This is such a great post, and really covers the <i>spiritual</i> aspects of what it's like to work for prolonged periods in VR. Glad to see Immersed getting traction, and taking VR forward. We all benefit from this.<p>For Linux enthusiasts (possibly the OP as as well): SimulaVR (www.simulavr.com) is working on a portable Linux VR headset with office/programmer productivity as the #1 goal. It will offer the following advantages over the OP's Immersed setup:<p>1. *More than double the text quality.* We are making a headset with more than double the PPD (pixels-per-degree) of the Oculus Quest 2. This is extremely important for facilitating multi-hour VR sessions without eye fatigue.<p>2. *Proper window management.* SimulaVR is a fully functional Linux window manager (built over Wayland/wlroots infrastructure). Unlike Immersed, it isn't just emulating screens on another host OS. This means you get an unlimited number of windows, popups can (when desired) behave as new windows, etc. No hacks are required to get this sort of functionality. It will also later on facilitate proper 3D/VR applications being able to share the same space with 2D applications.<p>3. *Proper portability.* Our headset is going to be fully portable (with a detachable compute pack in the back), and won't require you to tether your headset to another computer over WiFi, or take along an additional laptop just to get your VR computer working somewhere else.<p>4. *Proper hackability.* Simula is built over FOSS, and is not tethered to the Facebook platform. If there's something you want to change or tweak, you're free to do so.<p>One thing Immersed has though is immediate availability and scalability (there are an unlimited supply of Oculus Quests floating around :). We're likely going to be constrained on the number of headsets we can produce, at least initially, and will have to queue first to the early users.<p>We (and the industry at large) also have a lot of work ahead of us to improve upon a VR-centric UX (incorporating proper tiling management, and other things). Very exciting.
The most critical thing in this piece:<p>Get a better head-strap! He mentions it in passing in the article, but 90% of the strain from wearing the Quest 2 for extended periods of time can be traced to the garbage default head-strap. You want something that properly balances the headset. If you want, you can even get one that gives you a bit of extra charge, too. There are plenty of options.<p>Something critical that doesn't seem to be mentioned:<p>You can manually alter the resolution of Quest apps; if an app is looking blurry it's almost always because it's set to a lower resolution than native. This is a problem with a lot of "productivity" VR apps, and the main reason why I ended up working on my own for a few months.<p>The standard 90hz is comfortable for me for prolonged periods of time, but if you feel nauseous, you can turn it up to 120hz, though some applications will require manual adjustment.<p>The Quest 2 is really cheap and offers a lot of different ways to do work; you can pretty much throw it in a bag with a USB-C mouse and keyboard (and splitter, so you could technically also bring along a USB-A mouse and keyboard just fine if you bought a 2A-to-C splitter) <i>or</i> a bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo and you've got a full computing environment anywhere, assuming you set it up beforehand. And if you bring around a laptop or other small form-factor PC while traveling, it works really well to augment those, too.<p>Literal <i>years</i> ago Palmer Luckey talked about using a Go, a significantly less powerful headset, as a replacement for any monitor setups while traveling with his computer. We're finally at a point where you can do the same on any operating system, and it's honestly a really good experience.
There is a part of me that is disturbed. I like working at my big wooden table overlooking the city, nice natural light filtering in, the ability to detach from the screen and pace around to take a break. VR for work seems like a trap, you'll be consumed, ensnared by something that demands all your attention. You won't know freedom. Maybe this is the current state of headsets, clunky, like a chain with cables, bad tracking and screens. Maybe if it was seamless and I could slip it on as needed, like a pair of sunglasses.<p>The other part of me is that having a giant whiteboard and endless space seems cool. Imagine if the entire virtual space had powerful programming environments, some more powerful version of Mathematica, I could gesture and run a some powerful. Maybe that would be worth it, but it doesn't seem there yet.
This is a great breakdown of the early state of VR productivity. There are still a few key items that are barriers for me personally:<p>1. Eye and face tracking. The author mentions lip syncing and hand tracking. That goes a long way, but it doesn't recreate the video experience to me. There are a few vtubers out there that are doing some seriously impressive tracking, but it requires tons of special equipment at the moment. Once this gets resolved in a consumer model, I think things will really shine for virtual presence.<p>2. Lighter weight headsets. For longer sessions, a custom headstrap helps a ton, but even still lighter headsets will go a long ways to helping here.<p>3. Better lenses and better displays. The lower res means you're really forced to work at huge virtual screen sizes, as the author mentions. While this is the least needed item in this list for basic productivity, the screen door effect definitely creates a barrier some of the time.<p>I highly anticipate that we'll see a sizable portion of the population change over to VR for productivity within ten years. It has huge potential, especially with the remote work environment many are in these days. I would love to be able to feel the presence of people around me again, while still not having a commute or the risks associated with being physically in the same room.
I'd be very afraid to fry my eyes. I can't imagine strapping a bright display at 10cm from your eyes, for hours on end, won't lead to eye issues later on in life. I already feel strained after using a headset for an hour.
Having a screen blast your eyes 2” away is only ok for so long. Perhaps some can handle this but I cannot possibly imagine this is good for most people at scale. There’s already concern about eye problems due to cell phones in youth, and that’s at least 6-10” away from one’s eyes and with other light coming in.<p>The resolution isn’t there yet compared to my 4-5k monitors for text, but clearly will get there in the future. For now I don’t see what advantages it really gives me compared to a normal monitor in the real world, especially if I’m just coding. The exception would be if I were on something like an airplane — being able to look forward is a big deal here.<p>Personally it makes me feel a bit nauseous, particularly if there’s any movement (I get motion sick easily in VR but not normally in real life). My understanding is that about 20% of the population is like this and nothing is known to prevent it.<p>There are cool things about VR that I really enjoy (particular things like Google street view) but I think it’s way over hyped, and possibly dystopian depending on what people are leaving behind.
"Realism will increase (perhaps to hyperrealism) and our ability to perceive and interact with simulated objects and settings will be indistinguishable to our senses."<p>Hard pass from me.<p>Gaming addiction was only officially recognized within roughly the past decade. The idea of developing some sort of dependance on virtual reality fills me with absolute dread. Whats worse is that companies promoting virtual offices like this have every incentive imaginable to promote this (hi Facebook!).<p>I don't have anything against VR and think it has a lot of potential as a medium for gaming and the arts but theres a lot of danger in assuming there is no risk or minimizing the risks. Ignore the addictive power of the things which tune out the inconveniences of life at your own peril.
As someone who has spent quite some time tuning their VR setup for iRacing, I highly recommend the Pimax headsets (Pimax 8K X has dual native 4K). Best resolution and FOV, decently priced, light software, and surprisingly great support.<p>I 3d printed some supports to mount a vive headstrap to it, and removed the vive headphones in favor of Airpods. 200 degrees of FOV @ 75hz would be incredible for work with a far superior viewport than OP.<p>This blog post makes me want to give this a try.
I don't know but for some reason this article feels like one of those things - which is what will be see in a show 20 years from now about where/how it all started.<p>Like the guys from 1980s talking about video games in the recent Netflix documentary 'high score', where some people started spending 8+ hours a day playing games with really primitive graphics because it was just enough to be enjoyable.<p>VR now seems like something that is almost finally ready to explode and like the atari or iphone is going to change all our lives forever.
I can't speak to the use-case for this amount of time, but as someone who has used it plenty I can attest to pretty much everything the author has stated. The experiences that have blown me away the most have ironically been the ones that are the most "boring", or like essentially being a close analogue to the real world. When I tried online poker in VR, it was mind-blowing. It wasn't like reality... it was objectively better.<p>Whenever I have friends over, the hands take some time, the game can be slow and boring, etc. In VR, we're in an amazing scene, folks not in the hand can play all sorts of games in parallel, the game is much more dynamic since you have an expert dealer, etc. It made me realize that if I did have 5 people over in my house, I'd rather us all plug into the VR environment than playing in real life.
Anyone else <i>not</i> want to cut themselves off from physical reality for hours at a time for productivity purposes? I like looking away from my screen and seeing my dog and cat on the couch. I like looking out my window. I like being distracted by a car driving by. This sounds awful.
I like the ideas presented here. I wish more people understood that VR has purpose outside gaming, almost anything you do on the web can currently be done in VR. Perception of VR seems to be more focused on virtual worlds, or seeing it as just another gimmicky toy for computer people.<p>My largest gripe with this piece is if you're going to write about comfort in VR, you need to mention the Valve Index. The base model is, in my experience, the most comfortable headset even without modding. If you wear glasses you can find many prescription lens vendors online for ~60-90 USD. Not to mention the top of the line specs on the Index compared to it's competitors.
As someone who works with a single screen, I don’t get it.<p>I spend most of my time in the terminal, occasionally switching to a browser. The fact that I see a single window at a time is a “feature” to me.<p>Then again, if there was no difference in comfort, size, weight, etc, I’d happily increase the size of my screen, if only to increase the font size. I guess I’ll be a late adopter.
> Complete control over my visual environment is like using noise-canceling headphones for my eyes.<p>Could not agree more. I tried out a much simpler setup on my friend's Oculus Go (predecessor to the Quest 2, since abandoned by Facebook), and was amazed at how well I was able to focus.<p>For my setup, I used the a web browser on the headset itself to connect to ttyd [0] running on my computer for doing programming homework when I was in college, and it worked really well. I wrote about my experience, and drew similar conclusions. [1]<p>When I looked into immersive coding environments at that time, I didn't find much. I guess I didn't look hard enough...<p>[0] <a href="https://github.com/tsl0922/ttyd" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/tsl0922/ttyd</a><p>[1] <a href="https://jstrieb.github.io/posts/vr-programming/" rel="nofollow">https://jstrieb.github.io/posts/vr-programming/</a>
I had an interesting VR experience, I bought the Oculus during lockdown when I had some time off work. I played a lot of hours over a few days to complete the Walking Dead Game. What I felt was most curious, was afterwards I now have visual memories of being in the apocalyptic town fighting zombies. Almost like, a fake memory of it. I think because VR is total visual immersion, there could be some memory link unlike that which can be found from film or monitor based games.
Meh, what the hell. Immersed has a Linux build, I've got a spare headset, I decided to give it a whirl. While I'm a little disappointed by how little input the controller affords me, I'm impressed with how well it works! You've got my attention, but not my 40-50 hours a week... Yet.<p>Edit/disclosure: corrected a typo I made while in VR
Elevr had some great research and blog posts about this kind of thing, but they ran out of funding and even the website is gone now. Here are a couple of my favorites:<p>The Office of the Future <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190816013625/http://elevr.com/the-office-of-the-future/" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20190816013625/http://elevr.com/...</a><p>The Three Scales <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190830025347/http://elevr.com/the-three-scales/" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20190830025347/http://elevr.com/...</a>
I tried working like this but the resolution is not there yet, not sure why some people are not bothered by this. For me it’s very important text is as crisp as on my 4k display.
> The trip from video encoding on the PC, over the WiFi, and display in the headset averages about 3ms for me, using a 5ghz access point that’s several years old.<p>Wow that's pretty impressive, especially considering the 4K main screen + additional virtual screens used. I wonder how you get the latency this low. 3ms means no buffering at all, neither during encoding nor decoding. The best I could achieve so far is a little less than 60ms but with the additional restriction that playback has to be done via browser.
The Facebook angle to this sounds absolutely heinous, but just what have they done to lock the headset to Facebook? Is there some kind of secret handshake/encryption going on?<p>If someone from the Evil Empire was here, it would be interesting to get some notion how Facebook checks identity. Is there some huge glom of software that compares online activity, public records, phone records, bank records, credit records, etc. to make sure you're an OK person?
Here I am instead trying to minimize my hardware by using a less-addicting single black/white display with no video playback capability. VR on the other hand seems the quintessential distraction by literally stimulating way too many senses for what seems healthy.
I've had to do a lot of reading for work and I have to say, the Quest 2 has saved me from a lot of migraines, because I can recline while reading so as not put strain on my neck.<p>I'm not a Zuck fan, but damn the Quest 2 is a game changer for me.
It's like being in front of a large television screen for many hours. Can't be good for your eyes, curious to hear how your eye test results will come out after 6 months to year of 40-50 hours/week of VR usage.
My biggest issue with Immersed currently is it eats a tremendous amount of CPU on my Mac, which is admittedly aging (2016 era). Perhaps its unfair to expect it to run well on something of that vintage but it's definitely a problem.<p>Then the next obvious one is screen resolution is just not high enough yet. It probably needs to double and I don't think even the top end of headsets are quite there yet.<p>It's exciting because all the problems I can identify are essentially things that have high confidence of being solved over time. So I can see there is an inevitability this will be a major way of working at some point and for those of us willing to stretch to it, you can get to the future ahead of everyone else.<p>At the same time, every time I do the experiment it is objectively less productive than just using a basic 3-screen setup outside of VR. The bar, unfortunately, is quite high.
I really want to try out this setup, so I can work outside without having the sun blind me or otherwise obscure the laptop screen. This post looks like it has everything I need to get started. Thanks OP.
I think the upcoming Quest Pro could very well take the VR office from an extreme thing that just a few people are doing to something much more comfortable for most people.<p>Here are the leaked specs from investigations of a recent firmware: <a href="https://uploadvr.com/quest-pro-specs-controllers-leak/" rel="nofollow">https://uploadvr.com/quest-pro-specs-controllers-leak/</a><p>If we get improved lenses, fine-ipd and distance control for a really clear picture, plus eye and face tracking for expressive avatars, color HD passthrough so I can see my hands and keyboard, and a lighter, smaller headset, that would go a long way to addressing my issues with working in VR.<p>I'm personally quite interested since I travel a lot and it would be amazing to have a multi sit-stand setup in a ski goggle case. I have already been having good results using the Quest 2 as a portable gym, so portable office would be icing on the cake. If these specs are real, I'll be a day-1 customer.<p>One other thing that I had issues with that hope to see addressed: with both immersed and the Horizon Workrooms, the mouse latency was a killer when using their desktop client. Not sure what the deal was but was using a recent MacBook pro.
I really like seeing this detailed breakdown of VR for work.<p>I would like to use VR more but even an hour with the Oculus Quest leaves me feeling quite tired. The physical weight of the device and the not quite perfect alignment of the lenses are the likely causes.<p>The authors points about VR not having the limitations of real life are spot on. Tools like Workrooms are just a stepping stone to more and varied VR experiences.
I would like to give this a try, but I don't want to support Facebook in any way. I saw a couple of headsets mentioned below. Is there a definitive list out there of competitors?<p>As an aside, I used to use VPL eyephones, VPL datagloves and a SGI Crimson to do research back in the late 80s. I honestly thought back then we would all have fully adopted VR by now. I was so wrong!
I've been wanting to test this for a long time, but every time I research this I find that the Occulus seems like the best option, but I can't stand the FB account requirement, and I wouldn't feel comfortable with that.<p>What alternative would you guys recommend? Would the experience be significantly worse if I tried to do this with an Index, for instance?
"Memory Palaces, or the method of loci, is perhaps the most effective mnemonic device ever created. Dr. Lynne Kelly has proposed that pre-literate cultures maintained their encyclopedic knowledge by combining a similar approach with physical, ceremonial settings...<p><i>We use the very environment around us to think</i>".<p>Yes, exactly. Great blog post.
Anybody know how reading & desktop work on the Quest 2 compares to the original Oculus? I tried programming in the original Oculus years ago, but the low resolution was just too annoying... is it improved a good deal? (I know the resolution is higher, just wondering about the actual experience.)
The main problem is the poor image quality. It's much nicer to look at monitors than fuzzy text and images on the Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2. It also makes me feel sick after an hour even if I'm in a static space that's not moving.
This is cool. As a experimental experience.
I will wait fro a hologram solution to remove the Eizo's from my workflow.<p>Reasons:
I don't like to be totally disconnected from reality/physical world.
I work in a room with balanced natural light.
Removing this is not productive for me. In recent years I developed a technique to refresh cyclically my brain by making timely stops away from my computer.
Example: In the breaks I walk away completely in a different room and may play guitar, draw, do physical exercise or just meditate.
Advantages from this interruptions are immense.
Your brain is never bored, and your work sessions are effective and absent from procrastination.
Idk it sounds nice for some people but I think he handwaves away real motion sickness concerns. I can't spend more than 10 minutes in VR without being dizzy. Maybe it gets there some day but Ive yet to try a headset without getting sick
I was really excited about VR for awhile when the Oculus Rift was first getting press. The idea of programming on an infinitely large screen also seemed really cool. I couldn't afford one at the time so just held out.<p>Since then, I've been able to try a number of headsets and they all give me a headache after about 30 minutes. Depending on how the camera moves around, I can speedrun getting a headache in less than 5 minutes.<p>Does anyone else experience this? The OP's setup or SimulaVR sound really cool but I highly doubt I'll be able to do it for any productive amount of time.
Shortly, VR will help industries train their employees and experience tasks under different scenarios. This will probably help them reduce their budget and at the same time improving the training quality.
Have they solved the motion sickness yet? I used an early Oculus (I think it was Oculus Rift DK2) and mainly used it for virtual desktop stuff try to see if I could replace my multiple monitor setup, but I'd feel really unwell after about 30 minutes so I kind of gave up. If that's been resolved I'd be interested to give this another go.<p>Is there a reason why Immersed only works with Facebook devices? I deleted my Facebook account and this would be a definite dealbreaker for me.
For me, the problem is I wear glasses and I have no interest in switching to contact lenses. I’ve never found a car headset that worked with glasses well
Curious if the op now uses quick head movements to focus attention rather than rapid eye movement. I haven't used the Oculus, but with another headset found reading text to the far left or right difficult, as the resolution there is poor. Moving your head so the text is centered increases the pixel density and the text becomes readable.
> even with my higher-capacity headset and accessories, my entire outlay is easily competitive with a conventional multi-monitor configuration.<p>I highly doubt it. My dual monitor setup cost me about £300 including a nice desk stand. No fancy GPU or anything required. If that VR setup really cost that much it would be an impulse buy for me.
I wonder how this will impact our posture given that we're already at risk of a forward head posture seated. More weight on the head or the front of the head would accelerate these problems if you're not sitting properly.<p>Until the technology gets much much lighter of course, which it will.
Maybe things have improved a lot since I last tried VR, but the combination of low effective resolution and distortion from the fresnel lens (which also produces a kind of discretization effect similar to visible pixels) meant it was very unsuited to productivity tasks.<p>(Gaming was amazing though...)
I have worked a day inside of an Immersed VR environment, and it was a pleasurable, intuitive experience that let me bring a ton of monitors from my Windows, Mac, and Linux machines all into one place. It was a better experience than I expected.<p>But for doing a day of work, I would almost complain that it is too immersive. It eliminates distractions, but it also traps your eyes in front of screens and eliminates the real world except for things like eating and using the bathroom (and with the Quest passthrough, you don't even have to remove your headset for that).<p>I feel that, no matter how good you made this kind of tech, it's not going to work until it's full AR. VR isn't comfortable for long periods, even at its most comfortable, because your brain (or at least mine) prefers regular doses of reality.<p>And if you're going to be trapped in a VR computer, I found that using it for entertainment is the better experience. I can play Gamecube games and watch Netflix and Twitch at the same time, while keeping track discord.
All I could think about when reading about the coffee shop experience was that the author would be robbed blind (pun intended) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Computer snatched because of the lack of awareness, phone stolen, etc.
I suspect a lot of us would be working this way (VR Quest headsets simulating a large multi-monitor workstation) by now if the pandemic hadn't forced the world to be on zoom calls 40 hours/week.
"...experience less eye strain than I ever did with a bunch of desk-bound LCDs."<p>Is this really true? As someone who has never used VR, I assumed that an issue would be higher eye strain.
Sounds interesting, and I'd love to try this.<p>However I am never buying an Oculus device, for fear and loathing of anything made by Facebook. Having to have and use a FB account, with their track record of privacy blunders has completely alienated me from all their products.<p>Sadly that doesn't leave very many options on the table, some of which cost an arm and a leg.