In a LinkedIn blog post, Microsoft Technical Fellow Alex Kipman shared the company's vision for its Mixed Reality ecosystem for this 2018 year. The vision stands on a three-pronged stance: MR +AI, AR + VR, and Immersive Communication. The first is likely the more exciting of the bunch: marrying MR environments and apps with the power of the cloud to render extensive AI workloads. This starts with the inclusion of AI-processing capabilities intro the next version of Microsoft's HoloLens and its HPU (Holographic Processing Unit). With a strong internet connection, this local processing will be joined by Microsoft's cloud AI processing glut to marry the virtual and physical worlds in an increasingly inseparable mix, allowing for the virtual to perfectly overlap the physical.

The second stance on this Microsoft approach is the marriage of the AR + VR environments in a single product, which both allows for virtual overlays in the physical world, and a comprehensive solution for VR-specific workloads that the same AR headset can propel you to - essentially building a HoloLens + VR headset solution. Finally, Immersive Communication is one of the other applications where Microsoft sees extreme potential in this MR world we're about to enter: where the instant messaging and video chats of the world are superseded by an actual VR solution that places people next to their desired public, be it their loved ones or, frighteningly, their boss, from the comfort of their home or another location they see fit. A focus on actual presence can be brought equally to people separated by an inch or a thousand miles.