Microsoft isn’t very impressed with the Oculus Rift

Apparently one of the guys down at Microsoft Research isn’t very impressed with the Oculus Rift. More specifically, he didn’t like the virtual reality headset’s lenses and how they made the wearer view things. Don’t worry though, he had more to offer than just criticism, he also had a solution. While the solution could run you a few hundred bucks, he claims that it will dramatically increase the quality of what you’re viewing. 

Someone at Microsoft Research is apparently unimpressed with Oculus Rift’s perspective on the world, so has corrected it with lenses that give you Microsoft’s view of things. Redmond’s vision is expressed in this little CAD file that’s popped up at Microsoft Research, offering you all you need to give your Occulus the Microsoft treatment. “The field of view is slightly smaller than the stock lens but it is sharper across the field and has far less chromatic aberration,” the Readme file for the lenses claims. The research project isn’t just a goodness-of-the-heart thing. It’s also a demonstrator for another project: “The lens was automatically designed by the LensFactory program developed at Microsoft Research”, the post notes. The Register guesses that the project was a kind of de-cloaking for LensFactory. The lenses “correct the lens distortion”, Microsoft Research says, producing better quality outputs than the standard lenses. While the Microsoft Research design says it uses “off the shelf lens elements from Edmund Optics”, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re cheap. One Redditor checked the prices here, and worked out the DIY project would set you back US$200 an eye.