Apple wants to sell you a watch, available with an elegant Milanese loop band or cast in luxurious 18-karat gold. Microsoft wants to sell you… a dorky looking pair of 3D “hologram” goggles?
The companies have played a technology cat-and-mouse game over the decades, including “borrowing” several features and designs from each other, from Windows to the Zune. But the differences in taste and fashion between Apple and Microsoft couldn’t be more clear after today’s Windows 10 event.
There, executives showed off what seems like Microsoft’s big bet—or at least one of its many bets—on the future of computing: HoloLens, a virtual reality headset that responds to hand gestures and voice controls. It looks technically impressive, and Microsoft’s demo went about as smoothly as something like this could have. This could become a big deal someday.
But it’s hard to get over how strange someone looks using it. And it’s hard to imagine Apple doing something like this any time soon, whether or not it’s the future of computing.