After a long period of anticipation, Microsoft is bringing select Office applications to the Meta Quest headset portfolio – including a lineup of virtual reality and mixed reality headsets. Microsoft now supports immersive versions of Office 365 on the Meta headset lineup, with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint coming to Quest.
However, Microsoft has yet to unveil Teams integration on Meta's hardware. The firm first revealed plans to introduce Teams to the Quest portfolio during Connect 2022, when Microsoft announced Quest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams; however, the firm has yet to deliver the latter.
According to Satya Nadella, Microsoft's Chief Executive, Teams for Quest is coming, and workers will be able to collaborate "as though they were there in person" using a mix of the immersive Teams platform and Horizon-based avatars - Horizon is Meta's Metaverse platform which promotes social interaction for consumer and enterprise use cases in immersive virtual reality environments.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted in 2022 that his firm will integrate Teams in Horizon Workrooms, a specific Metaverse service for remote workplace operations. The integration allows people to join Teams meetings directly from a Workrooms Metaverse environment.
However, it seems that Meta is putting the Horizon platform on the backbench - instead pushing forward with headsets and smart glasses. In Workroom's place could be Microsoft Mesh, an upcoming suite for creating and leveraging immersive environments for enterprise collaboration, similar to Workrooms.
Microsoft is set to debut the Mesh service publicly in January; an immersive version of Teams will come alongside Mesh. Microsoft's debut of Mesh and an immersive Teams service in early 2024 may indicate a release window for a similar Teams for Quest service or create an opposite effect whereby Microsoft exclusively offers VR Teams via the Mesh platform [and Horizon competitor].
Microsoft Office 365 Goes XR
While Microsoft did not announce Teams for Quest, the firm did unveil some breakthrough productivity applications for Meta's renowned headset lineup.
Microsoft now offers its Office suite, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, on the Quest digital storefront for free. This service is available on all models of the Quest headset, including the Quest Pro, which is designed for enterprise usage.
Depending on the user's preferred headset, these applications are compatible with virtual and mixed-reality environments. The cloud-based infrastructure enables minimal storage space usage but requires an internet connection to access the services.
