Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it will open its digital doors to the public with a fresh iteration of its collaborative metaverse platform.
Introducing Microsoft Mesh — an immersive platform for socialising, connecting with work colleagues, and ‘fostering authentic human connections’ and ‘meaningful relationships.’
The novel platform replaces its predecessor, AltspaceVR, and will debut in October as a public preview.
Citing figures from its Work Trend Index report, Microsoft noted that 43 percent of workplace leaders responded that “relationship building is the greatest challenge in remote and hybrid work.”
It continued,
“Coming together in a physical space helps, but it’s not always possible—travel costs are prohibitive, real estate is expensive, and talent is increasingly dispersed. We need new ways for people to connect from different locations or geographies, using the tools they already have”
However, according to the Redmond, Washington-based firm, over 50 percent of employees were “open to using new innovations like immersive experiences for meetings and team activities.”
Several major brands have already turned to Mesh, including PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Takeda, Accenture, Telefonica, DXC Technology, and the World Economic Forum (WEF).
What’s New on Microsoft Mesh?
The company’s proprietary metaverse platform allows enterprises to connect their remote workforces in fully 3D spaces for meetings, events, and team-building exercises.
The platform will supply 3D virtual environments to create meaningful connections in shared immersive spaces. According to the tech giant, these will follow the trend of digital engagement “evolving from audio to video, and now to spatial interaction.”
The company explained further the benefits of spatial interaction,
“Spatial awareness through directionality and distance enables multiple small group discussions in the same place, adding familiar human elements to digital connections. Spending time in the same 3D environment also creates a powerful sense of togetherness, or co-presence, even without actively speaking. This co-presence can lead to serendipitous moments of conversation or even just the deepened connection of a shared experience. 3D environments also remove distractions and help participants focus on fewer things—specifically the people and objects that surround them, driving a higher sense of immersion”
With the power of immersive interactions across distances, Microsoft hopes to unite global workforces regardless of location. It also aims to remove barriers to access with multichannel connectivity across smartphones, laptops, Meta Quest headsets, and other devices.
Users can enter Mesh via Microsoft Teams or create their own bespoke environments designed in the platform.
Let’s Get This (Metaverse) Party Started
In order to get started on Mesh, people can join via the View menu on their Teams applications and then click the ‘immersive space’ option. This will change the meeting room from 2D to 3D.
The platform will then provide users with avatars built for either “standard 2D Teams meetings” or their own bespoke ones. Users can choose their appearance, hair, clothing, or facial expressions before joining.
Users can then step into their immersive worlds with several 3D environments best suited for the tasks at hand, whether for socialising, round table discussions, teambuilding, or collaborating. Attendees can also choose where to sit or move about the cabin to speak with colleagues.
The platform also leverages spatial audio and audio zones to control conversational flows. This will allow groups to speak with each other, rather than interrupt other conversations.
The rumors are true—Teams has Games for Work! Up for some Solitaire before your next meeting?
— Microsoft Teams (@MicrosoftTeams) September 26, 2023
Once inside, coworkers can join interactive games baked right into the platform. This will allow people to join teambuilding activities and engage simultaneously in groups.
Activities include beanbag tossing, marshmallow roasting, quizzes, and icebreaker questions. While using the platform, they can react with emojis, claps, hearts, and thumbs up, similar to the original 2D platform.
Furthermore, people can even join immersive collaboration sessions from 2D Microsoft Teams experiences. While connected, 2D participants can share their screen with their 3D counterparts and monitor activities in the space.
Getting Creative with Microsoft Mesh for Teams
Creating immersive spaces across Mesh is another standout feature of the platform, especially for companies seeking to brand their 3D environments.
This is useful for global events, guided tours, onboarding and training, product showcases, and other activities. Mesh also leverages no-code editors to build virtual event spaces via the Mesh Toolkit rapidly.
Unity powers the toolkit with incredible, bespoke features. After building the environment, developers can place videos, images, and other assets for attendees to interact with.
The no-code feature removes the barrier to such experiences by coordinating environments, activities, sounds, and animations for a host of use cases.
With the Mesh toolkit, developers can access the following:
- Virtual 3D interactions that boost immersion and co-presence. This includes interacting with real-time 3D (RT3D) assets, walking to others, and spatial audio.
- Live data connections to integrate live public data flows into content added to the virtual environment. This creates a stellar feed of information on the platform for monitoring flights, learning science facts, attending concerts, and following stocks.
- Leveraging enterprise-grade technologies from Microsoft 365 ensures users receive top security, privacy, and other key features. This is especially crucial when working with client data, conversations, and optimised immersive experiences to accommodate even the biggest global firms.
- Dress rehearsals to prepare new or existing Mesh environments, allowing developers to adjust parameters ahead of schedule.
- Direct access to Mesh from Outlook and Teams calendars to expand the accessibility of the platform.
- Split screen activities for people joining from different locations on their Office apps.
Gearing Up for the Big Day
Those interested in joining the public preview of Teams can follow several procedures, depending on their role in an enterprise.
Users can join Mesh after administrative staff enable the platform. From there, they can click the ‘immersive space’ option to join the meetings. They can then download Mesh for PC at the Microsoft Store or the App Lab on Meta Quest devices, along with a Teams Premium licence.
IT administrators can also verify the licences needed to access the platform. These include Teams Essentials, Microsoft 365 Business Basic/ Standard/ Premium, Microsoft 365 E3/E5, and Office E1/E3/E5. Admins can enable the Microsoft Mesh app after it becomes available in the Teams Admin Center section.
Microsoft Teams Updates
The announcement comes after Microsoft released several Mesh features at the Build 2023 event in May last year. At the time, it allowed users to test-drive immersive experiences in private rooms for meetings and other events.
Microsoft Mesh also allowed attendees to join the interactive spaces to walk to groups, wave, and interact with spatial audio in private chats. Beta-testing these features allowed the platform to gain critical empirical data prior to the preview rolling out in October.
Teams Technology Adoption Programme (TAP) subscribers beta-tested the platform’s features at the time.
Microsoft struck a major partnership with Meta Platforms at its Connect event in October last year.
One year later, the new Teams format will arrive just after Meta hosts its Connect event on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
At the time, Meta and Microsoft CEOs detailed their collaboration with Mesh, Teams, Microsoft Office 365, and other key services, to integrate across Meta’s Quest product lineup.
