Meta Wants You to Work in Virtual Reality. Here's What That Is Like

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Meta Platforms Inc. has made it clear that it wants to infiltrate the business world with virtual reality technology. So I tested the premise on Tuesday morning, joining the company's Connect developer conference via an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset.

The conference was hosted in the company's Horizon Worlds app, which the company said will soon be stuffed with basic corporate productivity offerings from Microsoft, Adobe, Accenture and Zoom. Digital avatars that look like cartoon versions of us, except legless (more on that later), will have access to PDFs, Word documents, breakout rooms and whiteboard meetings.

It's going to be an adjustment, and take more than a few familiar tools to win me over.

Joining the event wasn't as simple as pulling up a video link. I had to enter the company's Horizon Worlds app, the virtual universe where people can build and join their own mini experiences, and fire up the Connect conference from my events queue. A bright blue loading screen with a flashing “warning” sign dropped my avatar into a hallway leading to an expansive virtual courtyard, with some multi-story buildings, greenery and a water feature with a slowly rotating Meta logo.

For those with some video game familiarity, I'd put the world closer to a Roblox or the Sims. Basic, unfussy designs made it easy to navigate. I could tell when my avatar was climbing — er, floating — up stairs. Nature sounds, bubbling water and the dim conversations of a handful of other users around me gave me a sense of being there. But the dark sky gave no indication of time or weather; the smell of my real-world coffee was my only reminder the work day was starting.

A sign directed me across the courtyard for Chief Executive Officer