Category: Mac

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Microsoft’s Social Service AltspaceVR Pilots Mac Version

Microsoft is piloting Mac OS support for its social service AltspaceVR.

The test is “intended to help us better understand the feasibility of expanding AltspaceVR to Mac OS” and you can give it a try right now. Microsoft is careful to note that some features and events aren’t supported on Mac OS, including Microsoft-linked accounts. The page for the app also notes that iPhone and iPad support is not included either.

“Full support for Mac OS is pending investigation and is not guaranteed,” the page notes.

Microsoft acquired AltspaceVR in 2017 after the startup ran out of cash and nearly shuttered. In recent months, Altspace avatars from the cross-platform social service have been shown used with Microsoft’s Mesh service for collaboration in VR and AR.

Both Microsoft and Apple are very interested in AR, but the ambitions at each company toward VR are still unclear. Apple is said to be developing a VR headset with very strong AR capabilities while Microsoft just won a major contract from the U.S. military to develop AR headsets. Microsoft was an early supporter of the Windows Mixed Reality platform on PCs and more recent efforts support the OpenXR initiative to make it easier for developers to build apps that run on a wide range of devices. Apple, meanwhile, is in transition as it rolls out Apple-designed silicon chips to its Mac computers that bring many of the performance benefits of iPhones and iPads to laptops and desktops. Behind the scenes, the switchover to Apple silicon could have lasting effects on the software development ecosystem.

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Virtual Desktop Passes 200k Unique Downloads On SideQuest

SideQuest announced on Twitter that Virtual Desktop passed 200,000 unique downloads on the sideloading platform, the first app to do so.

Virtual Desktop allows you to bring your computer’s display into VR, providing you with a streamed version of your desktop that you can interact with and control from within VR. It requires the Virtual Desktop app on your headset, along with a companion streamer app installed on your computer.

The app is available for purchase on the Oculus Store for Quest, however, an alternate version is available to be patched onto your device from SideQuest. This patch enables wireless streaming of PC VR content, including SteamVR and Oculus games, to your headset from your VR-ready PC. It works similarly to Oculus Link, but is a fully wireless solution.

This feature initially launched for the official version of the app on the Oculus Store, but Facebook forced its removal shortly after launch. Now, the feature can be enabled through SideQuest by downloading and installing the patch — however, the patch needs to be installed over an official version of Virtual Desktop, so users still need to purchase the app through Facebook first.

Reaching 200,000 unique downloads of the sideloaded version is a significant milestone for Virtual Desktop and SideQuest, and proof that there is strong demand for a wireless PC VR streaming solution for Quest. Virtual Desktop won’t necessarily work for everyone, however — the reliability of wireless PC VR streaming to Quest is dependent on the strength of the user’s local network and the layout of the area, as walls and other elements may cause disruptions.

This is one of the reasons Facebook told Godin to remove the feature from the Oculus Store version, as an unreliable connection could cause discomfort for users when streaming PC VR content. Facebook is working on some kind of native version of the technology as well, which John Carmack recently referred to as ‘Air Link’.

Virtual Desktop developer Guy Godin recently got 90Hz PC VR content streaming on Oculus Quest 2 using the headset’s 90Hz mode, but later provided an update that the mode will be disabled at launch but will be re-enabled in a future update from Facebook.