 Today, Microsoft had a consumer event for Windows 10. They talked about a lot of stuff, most of which we were expecting. We saw everything we thought we'd see with Windows 10. We saw Windows 10 running on a phone. We saw it running on tablets. We also saw some really neat Xbox stuff where you could stream Xbox games to Windows machines. So it was all kind of what we thought it would be, but then the huge reveal at the end, HoloLens. Microsoft has new technology where they can literally show you holographs in your living room or whatever space you're in using a crazy headset. Now, Microsoft didn't let us film or take pictures of anything that we saw with HoloLens, but we got to try it and it was pretty great. We saw a demo of Minecraft and it was wild. You put these things on and you look down at the table and there's a castle just sitting on the table made out of Minecraft blocks. And you can look around it and there's no lag, everything reacts to your head movements as though it were real. They obviously look like digital objects, it's not like photo-realistic, but it was kind of incredible. There was a Skype demo where you would do a Skype call and there would be a little window hanging out with the head that you were talking to the person. And he was looking at it on a surface and he could literally draw on top of the world that I was looking at him, on top of the real world. So they did a walkthrough where they helped us install a new light switch. And so there are these wires sticking out of the wall and he would circle the wire and say, take this wire here and connect it to this screw here on the thing that I'm actually holding. It was a really smart way to use this technology, really something I didn't expect they would have thought through that well. But what they haven't thought through is all the gestures. You can look around to point to things and you can tap, they call it an air tap. And that's kind of about it. You can also talk to it to switch tools, but you can't actually grab stuff and manipulate it in space, which you really would like to do because as good as your head might be, your hands are way better at manipulating objects. That's what they're designed for, right? The last demo that we saw was Mars. JPL, the Jet Propulsion Lab, is working with Microsoft and they have a system where you put this thing on and it literally transports you to Mars. It's not as deeply immersive as an Oculus Rift, so you don't really feel like you're there. But what's cool about it is they mix the real world with the Mars virtual world together. So there's a full scale thing of the Mars rover just right there and you can stand in front of a monitor and the mouse on the monitor, you can slide it off of the monitor onto the Martian landscape. And so your mouse, you're using the mouse and you're moving the mouse pointer around on the surface of Mars. It was crazy. So overall, what does all this mean for Microsoft? I think the most important thing, as cool as HoloLens was, is that Windows 10 is on the right track. They've simplified the UI, they've made it much easier to understand and there's no longer this insanity of a million different versions of Windows on a million different devices. There's just one Windows, it's called Windows 10. You're going to be able to get it on your phone and on your tablet and on your laptop and on your giant, huge monitor that you've got in your meeting room to have a meeting with. I think there's two cameras on it. And it's all Windows and that's the way it always should have been. That's the way it's going to be later this year and that's really exciting. The HoloLens stuff, presumably it'll come out, it seems like they're pretty far along. I'm pretty excited for it. But I think of it the same way I think of something like Google Glass or self-driving cars or any of these other crazy moonshots that we see other companies do. And yeah, they'll sell it, it'll turn into a real product. But it shows that Microsoft has got real ambition. They're not just going to coast on making money off of selling copies of Office. They really are trying to invent the future here and they're a lot further along than we gave them credit for.
 Today, Microsoft had a consumer event for Windows 10.
 They talked about a lot of stuff, most of which we were expecting.
 We saw everything we thought we'd see with Windows 10.
 We saw Windows 10 running on a phone.
 We saw it running on tablets.
 We also saw some really neat Xbox stuff where you could stream Xbox games to Windows machines.
 So it was all kind of what we thought it would be, but then the huge reveal at the end, HoloLens.
 Microsoft has new technology where they can literally show you holographs in your living room
 or whatever space you're in using a crazy headset.
 Now, Microsoft didn't let us film or take pictures of anything that we saw with HoloLens,
 but we got to try it and it was pretty great.
 We saw a demo of Minecraft and it was wild.
 You put these things on and you look down at the table and there's a castle just sitting on the table
 made out of Minecraft blocks.
 And you can look around it and there's no lag, everything reacts to your head movements as though it were real.
 They obviously look like digital objects, it's not like photo-realistic, but it was kind of incredible.
 There was a Skype demo where you would do a Skype call and there would be a little window
 hanging out with the head that you were talking to the person.
 And he was looking at it on a surface and he could literally draw on top of the world that I was looking at him,
 on top of the real world.
 So they did a walkthrough where they helped us install a new light switch.
 And so there are these wires sticking out of the wall and he would circle the wire and say,
 take this wire here and connect it to this screw here on the thing that I'm actually holding.
 It was a really smart way to use this technology, really something I didn't expect they would have thought through that well.
 But what they haven't thought through is all the gestures.
 You can look around to point to things and you can tap, they call it an air tap.
 And that's kind of about it.
 You can also talk to it to switch tools, but you can't actually grab stuff and manipulate it in space,
 which you really would like to do because as good as your head might be,
 your hands are way better at manipulating objects.
 That's what they're designed for, right?
 The last demo that we saw was Mars.
 JPL, the Jet Propulsion Lab, is working with Microsoft and they have a system where you put this thing on
 and it literally transports you to Mars.
 It's not as deeply immersive as an Oculus Rift, so you don't really feel like you're there.
 But what's cool about it is they mix the real world with the Mars virtual world together.
 So there's a full scale thing of the Mars rover just right there and you can stand in front of a monitor
 and the mouse on the monitor, you can slide it off of the monitor onto the Martian landscape.
 And so your mouse, you're using the mouse and you're moving the mouse pointer around on the surface of Mars.
 It was crazy.
 So overall, what does all this mean for Microsoft?
 I think the most important thing, as cool as HoloLens was, is that Windows 10 is on the right track.
 They've simplified the UI, they've made it much easier to understand
 and there's no longer this insanity of a million different versions of Windows on a million different devices.
 There's just one Windows, it's called Windows 10.
 You're going to be able to get it on your phone and on your tablet and on your laptop
 and on your giant, huge monitor that you've got in your meeting room to have a meeting with.
 I think there's two cameras on it.
 And it's all Windows and that's the way it always should have been.
 That's the way it's going to be later this year and that's really exciting.
 The HoloLens stuff, presumably it'll come out, it seems like they're pretty far along.
 I'm pretty excited for it.
 But I think of it the same way I think of something like Google Glass or self-driving cars
 or any of these other crazy moonshots that we see other companies do.
 And yeah, they'll sell it, it'll turn into a real product.
 But it shows that Microsoft has got real ambition.
 They're not just going to coast on making money off of selling copies of Office.
 They really are trying to invent the future here and they're a lot further along than we gave them credit for.