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Comment by xur17 | Hacker News Reader

I would love a virtual programming environment. If they (eventually) get the resolution high enough, you could use it to replace all of your external monitors, and be able to use your full desktop environment anywhere.

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I've been thinking about it for development as well, but I now think that resolution isn't as big a concern as I initially thought.

You'd be able to have a virtual desktop of (essentially) unlimited size. You're frontmost task could be high resolution, but ancillary tasks could be lower resolution or high resolution but partially occluded by your field of vision. This wouldn't be opening an IDE to fill the entire screen - it would be a multi-window environment with at most a few primary tasks using up most of the screen real estate. Like Mission Control with real time zooming in a 3D environment and no distinction between workspaces.

Indeed that would be assume. Solves the how many monitor's do you need debate, no longer restricts you by either available space or location. Would save money on power, etc. Seems like it could be a win for both the developer and budget.

There's one significant catch, which is a limited ability to look around by moving your eyes rather than your head.

The screen spans your entire field of view. You can still look around with your eyes only. The only problem is the low resolution.

That's not the case: different headsets have different fields of view, and most, including the DK2, have a FOV that's considerably narrower than the Sensics dSight's. Likely the dSight doesn't cover the full range of eye movement either.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApTBEPEA_odkdHp...

I would love to get over a fear of heights and be able to enjoy some new places on this earth.

Some video games give me that feeling of "death is imminent" when the 1st person character jumps off of a cliff or falls, but it only happens the first time, so there's a good chance that it's possible to help overcome the fear of heights with VR.

I'm horrified about being near the edges of buildings and cliffs, and in my mind it's perfectly justified (less chance of death away from edge).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CCTV_Beijing_April_2008.jp...

Also this building freaks me out imagining actually being in that building. I'd much rather have a support column under me. If I worked for a company in that building and our offices were on those floors in the middle I would probably be forced to quit. Oh, and it's in an area known for seismic activity, nope.

This is an actual in-use therapy approach, and one that will probably become much more widespread now that VR hardware is getting affordable and accessible. (Also used for social anxieties, like a fear of public speaking.)

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