Microsoft offers Mesh, a corporate metaverse for teams –

Microsoft has announced the launch of a Metaverse-inspired feature for its Teams app called Mesh. Mesh will allow users to introduce personalized avatars into digital worlds and make meetings more immersive. The platform is announced following Facebook's pivot to a metaverse-focused company, changing its name to "Meta."

Microsoft is embracing the metaverse

Software giant Microsoft has announced It will release a Metaverse-inspired solution for its Teams app called Mesh. With Mesh, users feel more immersed in meetings as the app introduces avatars - digital representations of the user - for applications like team calls. Additionally, the avatars can meet and greet each other in an immersive, digital world.

This new feature will be available to users with smartphones, laptops or even holographic devices. According to Jeff Teper, a Microsoft corporate vice president, Mesh offers a way to:

Signal that we are in the same virtual space, we are a team, we are a group, and help get the formalities to the point and the commitment to the point. We've seen these tools achieve both the goal of helping a team be more effective and helping individuals become more engaged.

Play catch-up

Although the feature has been in development for some time, Microsoft's move feels like it comes on the heels of Facebook's recent name change to Meta. The corporate and social world is beginning to value and offer these types of services as part of a new conception of social contacts and work after the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Metaverse Proposals are not new, and many blockchain projects already present similar self-contained worlds. One of these is a relatively obscure blockchain project called Decentraland, which was launched in the boom of the 2017 ICO season. Founded by Ariel Meilich and Esteban Ordano, the project established a virtual world in which properties can be purchased by individuals and companies can set up virtual stands or other useful digital representations.

The sandbox is another similar project. Owned by Animoca Brands (who recently received) financing from Ubisoft, a leading game development company), the project also includes virtual land and assets. These assets can be created by the user and also monetized as objects are automatically converted into NFTs, introducing the concept of true ownership in the digital world.

What do you think of Microsoft Mesh and its virtual bet? Tell us in the comments section below.

Photo credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons