The Microsoft logo is shown on the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles | File PhotoBerlin: Microsoft is to update its flagship operating system next month so that the latest generation of Windows 10 hardware devices and software can tap into augmented and virtual reality technologies, executives said on Friday.
The software upgrade, its fourth update, will be offered from October 17 to existing customers of Windows 10 running on more than 500 million devices, the company said.
Microsoft also announced plans by computer and virtual-reality headset makers to introduce new hardware for businesses, consumers and video gamers to take advantage of so-called 'mixed reality' features in the October software release.
"We're enabling you to immerse yourself in a new reality - mixed reality," Terry Myerson, Microsoft's executive vice president in charge of Windows, said in a speech at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin.
Mixed reality is the term Microsoft uses to describe software that covers both augmented and virtual reality.
Augmented reality overlays text, sounds, graphics and video on real-world images that users actually see in front of them, while virtual reality creates entirely computer-generated worlds.
The multimedia content can be viewed on computers, TV displays, smartphones, tablets or, in the case of virtual reality, on dedicated goggles. Microsoft plans to target these features first at advanced video game players using VR headsets, with business applications to follow, officials said.
Microsoft's push comes as the U.S. tech giants - Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook, along with China's Baidu - increasingly battle to make augmented reality, together with artificial intelligence and cloud-based services, into the next computer platform.
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