The battle between Microsoft and Meta for control of the Metaverse virtual universe

Tram Ho

After spending most of the last 2 years with Microsoft Teams group video meetings, are the world’s office workers ready to take the next big step into the digital realm?

This week, Microsoft launched a plan to introduce 250 million users of its Teams app to a more diverse virtual universe known as the metaverse.

This move by Microsoft comes a few days after the Facebook company changed its name to Meta, to confirm the company’s focus on the virtual world.

The new feature on the Teams application that Microsoft introduced on November 2 is quite similar to Facebook’s future product of office meetings made in virtual reality.

Both companies say users will be able to create their own avatar, or cartoon, that can move freely between different virtual worlds.

As a first step, Microsoft says in the first half of 2022, Teams users will be able to start appearing as profile pictures in online meetings they’ve attended. Jared Spataro, head of Teams app, predicts that: “Having a square in a group video chat will make you not feel out of place”.

 Cuộc chiến giữa Microsoft và Meta để kiểm soát vũ trụ ảo Metaverse - Ảnh 1.

Microsoft’s gradual approach gives people more opportunities to experience the new metaverse technology. Photo: Financial Times

In contrast, Facebook has veered straight into virtual reality. With the open beta of Horizon Workroom, a free app designed for employees to work together in a virtual office through an Oculus headset. Users can hear every sound from other people in the room.

Today, there are 250 million people using Microsoft Teams at least once a month, compared with the 7 million paying users Facebook has for its workplace communication software. According to experts in this field, it is the large number of Teams application users that makes Microsoft an easier place to dominate the market.

However, Peter Barrett, a venture capitalist and others warned after the Covid-19 pandemic: ” Everyone has experienced the fatigue of interacting with someone via Zoom. We want to be around. particular people “.

Meanwhile, for tech companies building new metaverses, bringing technology into the office has another benefit: People can use it in their broader work life.

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Source : Genk