Facebook Launches Horizon Workrooms for Oculus The virtual meeting spaces will be available for free to anyone with an Oculus Quest 2 in countries where the virtual reality system is supported.
By Emily Rella
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Facebook announced new, collaborative workrooms on Thursday. Called Horizon Workrooms, the virtual meeting spaces will be available for free to anyone with an Oculus Quest 2 in countries where the virtual reality system is supported.
According to Facebook, users will be able to come together and work in the same virtual room, no matter where they are physically. Horizon Workrooms function across VR and the internet to help professional teams collaborate, communicate and work remotely.
The press release points to the ability to brainstorm, write on a virtual whiteboard, collaborate on a document, socialize and have freer conversations.
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The Quest 2 feature will use mixed-reality desk and keyboard tracking, hand tracking, remote desktop streaming, video conferencing integration, spatial audio and Oculus Avatars.
Facebook said in Thursday's announcement that the company has already been using Horizon Workrooms to collaborate internally and employees "think it's one of the best ways to work if you can't be physically together."
Because the Oculus straps to a user's head, hands are free to type or write on the virtual whiteboard. Users are reminded to enable hand tracking to make that work optimally.
Facebook also said that Workrooms will not use a person's work conversations to inform ads on Facebook and Facebook and third-party apps will not access, view or use images or videos from Workrooms to target ads. Workrooms accounts are separate from a user's existing Oculus or Facebook accounts.
The open beta version is available for free download now.
