Facebook shows a virtual reality workplace via Oculus

On Facebook Connect, a virtual press conference with a focus on virtual reality, the social media giant has shown its plans of what a virtual work environment can look like. In combination with the new Oculus Quest 2 vr glasses and Logitech keyboard you can work virtually anywhere.

Facebook will soon introduce an experiment entitled ‘Infinite Office’ where you can consult multiple screens in virtual reality. Instead of looking at a monitor, you have VR glasses on your nose with which you can open various windows or start a virtual desktop environment.

You can chat with other colleagues and receive notifications via the central console that is visible at the bottom of your field of view all the time. In collaboration with Logitech, a VR-compatible keyboard with adjacent touchpad will be released later this year. In VR you see a virtual keyboard with identical dimensions to the real one sitting just below you. Your hands are visible in VR, so a touch on a virtual key correlates with the same real physical key.

Lack of professional apps

A virtual environment does not limit you to one monitor, so you can open various windows around smoothly for multitasking. You can use your hands to navigate through the environment. You don’t need the included controllers for the VR glasses in Infinite Office.

The feature will start in beta this winter for those interested. Important side note: Oculus is owned by Facebook, which means that you must use a Facebook profile to start the service. Professional services such as Office 365 or G Suite are not yet available in the Oculus Store, but via virtual desktop you can still display your screen virtually without the need for a monitor.

Along with the new experiment, Facebook is launching the Oculus Quest 2 with a higher screen resolution per eye compared to the original Quest. The stand-alone VR glasses initially focus on media consumption and gaming, but you can connect the headset to a PC via USB-C to start (professional) VR applications from there. The four cameras in the headset and the included controllers ensure that you can freely walk around in almost any room without additional sensors by indicating the (virtual) boundaries in advance.

Tip: Oculus for Business now only offers the Oculus Quest in Belgium

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