Facebook unveiled Infinite Office, a new product for employees working from home, during the Facebook Connect over two weeks ago. The VR software is intended for use with the Oculus headset, and it replicates a real office environment while making the most of digital tools. It is a mixed reality platform that combines virtual reality with a ‘real’ physical keyboard. Facebook built the platform to cater to workers who are choosing to work from home due to this coronavirus pandemic.
The mixed reality platform enables the users to experience the virtual working environment and, at the same time, see the surroundings of their room. It gives the user the freedom to work remotely from home while experiencing the feel of the office environment and being aware of the surroundings simultaneously.
Facebook Infinite Office Features
Facebook’s Infinite Office provides a large working space with multiple customizable screens to work. The screens are virtual, and hence there is no need for the extra physical monitors. The whole set-up allows users to see live feeds through the inbuilt cameras that enable them to have a mixed reality experience. It integrates their own room with the VR world in which they’re working.
The customizable screens are built atop an Oculus Browser that offers the users a desktop-like browsing experience. It means the users will have the same web experience in virtual world as they have in the real world. The good thing about Infinite Office is that it is designed to be very portable, and the users can easily pick up from where they had left off.
Infinite Office is also capable of integrating a real physical keyboard with the virtual world that lets users type on the virtual screen. Facebook has partnered with Logitech to bring this keyboard feature integration. The set-up recognizes and tracks the Logitech K830 and then renders it on the VR headsets. It enables the users to see the physical keyboard in the virtual reality Oculus Quest headset, and it lets the users type easily without any interruption. Facebook already has plans to roll out additional features on Infinite Office shortly. We may get to see new productivity features in the coming months.
Check out the video how the Infinite Office works and how it looks like:
