Microsoft's 'Beihai' appears to be a cross-app 3D platform for Windows apps

In the beginning of the year we wrote about ‘Beihai’, which then appeared to be part of Skype for HoloLens that would offer “groundbreaking 3D experiences across all devices: phone, tablet, desktop and HoloLens.”

At the time there was some clue that the project may be bigger, with the team led by Corporate Vice President Kudo Tsunoda, who was supposed to build apps across all Microsoft devices that would bring together the company’s Windows inbox apps, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft HoloLens experiences, and other unannounced projects as described by Terry Myerson.

Now intense Microsoft watcher WalkingCat has uncovered a (now deleted) casting description for a video Microsoft will be making to introduce the feature (which seems set to launch in 2017, based on a post ex-Microsoft employee Dano Dejos above) which appears to suggest Beihai will be much more far-reaching and will touch most of Microsoft’s apps, including Paint, Office, Skype and the OS via 3D Printing and Hololens.

The feature is likely part of Microsoft preparing for the next big thing, in this case 3D, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.

https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/787884084735336450

Whether this will end up being used however remains to be seen. Windows 10 for example includes a subsystem dedicated to Internet of Things and AllJoyn but we have so far seen very little support by home automation companies for the OS.

Do our readers think Microsoft can catch this next big wave?