Microsoft showed Windows in mixed reality and announced integration with Meta Quest headsets

Microsoft announced at its Ignite 2024 event that the Meta✴ Quest 3 and Quest 3S virtual reality headsets will receive support for “full features” of the Windows 11 operating system in December as part of a preview version.

Image source: Microsoft

«”All Capability” in this context means that Quest headset users will be able to interact with a local Windows PC or cloud-based Windows (via Windows 365) using Quest headsets. Microsoft says the connection will take “just a few seconds” and compares the experience to working on a “personal, high-end, large, multi-monitor workstation.” Users will be able to interact with multiple virtual monitors regardless of the space in which they are working.

Windows Volumetric Apps technology will also be implemented, with which you can transfer interactive 3D applications and other objects from Windows to the virtual reality of Meta✴ Quest headsets. As an example, back in May of this year, Microsoft showed how a user of the Quest 3 headset interacts with a digital image of an Xbox controller inside a virtual environment with their hands.

Developers can already subscribe to the 3D API to gain access to essential features that enable them to create plugins for new or existing 3D applications on the Windows desktop.

Microsoft first hinted at future Windows support for Quest headsets as early as 2022, announcing a collaboration with Meta✴ to bring some Windows apps, including Microsoft Teams, to a virtual environment. Last December, Microsoft released Microsoft 365 features (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) for Quest, and also adapted its Xbox Cloud Gaming service for it.