Bill Gates predicts that most meetings will move to the Metaverse within three years
Not a Teams player.
Bill Gates believes that the future of remote work meetings is changing, predicting that most will be held in the Metaverse within the next three years. This claim was part of a much broader commentary made by the man himself on his blog, GatesNotes, back on December 7 2021, where he reviewed the difficulties faced in 2021 and prospects to remain optimistic into 2022.
As reported by VRScout, Gates discussed issues outside of the future of the Metaverse, including COVID-19 misinformation and a container ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal. But he dedicated a large portion of the post to the importance of staying connected in difficult times, writing, “We’ve all had to adapt to a ‘new normal,’ although what that looks like is different for every person. For me, the result has been a year spent mostly online”.
He later adds that he’s “really interested in how technology can create more spontaneity with remote work moving forward” after discussing how the pandemic has revolutionised working at home for office-based staff, stating that he expects most of the office digitisation put into place to get ourselves through regional lockdowns and other mandates introduced in the height of the pandemic will hang around long after it ends.
This isn’t just talking about how far services like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have developed to cope with the huge increase in users though, with Gates claiming that “within the next two or three years, I predict most virtual meetings will move from 2D camera image grids - which I call the Hollywood Squares model, although I know that probably dates me - to the metaverse, a 3D space with digital avatars.”
For those unfamiliar with the Metaverse, Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram) describes it as “A set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with other people who aren’t in the same physical space as you. You’ll be able to hang out with friends, work, play, learn, shop, create and more”.
This meshes with Gate’s own visions, as he writes “the idea is that you will eventually use your avatar to meet with people in a virtual space that replicates the feeling of being in an actual room with them. To do this, you’ll need something like VR goggles and motion capture gloves to accurately capture your expressions, body language, and the quality of your voice.”
Analysis: We have our doubts
As much as we’d love to never switch on our webcams again, three years is a very short period of time for most large office-based businesses to adopt such a modern concept.
As Gates himself states, most people don’t own the VR kit currently required to make this a reality – or at least, meet the expectations currently being thrown around by the likes of Gates and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, which is going to slow things down considerably.
This isn’t a small expense, with most VR headsets alone costing as much as a game console, even without also purchasing quality of life accessories like battery chargers, longer charging cables, and comfier head straps. There’s also the issue that even the most comfortable VR headsets can only be worn for a few hours, and some folk are unable to wear one at all because of migraines, nausea, and other medical issues.
Jess Weatherbed