Microsoft’s OS has been quietly slimming down: a clutch of once-promising Windows features have been deprecated or removed over the past few years, and a number of little-known tools that almost nobody used are now gone for good—some by stealth, others with a public notice. The tidy list that...
A lone, technically audacious intervention has kept a generation of Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) headsets out of landfill: Matthieu Bucchianeri, a Microsoft engineer with prior experience on the company’s mixed‑reality teams, released the free “Oasis Driver for Windows Mixed Reality” on Steam to...
Valve’s SteamVR beta has quietly built a safety net for owners of Windows Mixed Reality headsets: the SteamVR Beta (v2.13.1) now automatically prefers and installs the third‑party “Oasis” driver when it detects WMR hardware running on versions of Windows 11 that no longer include Microsoft’s...
A single, determined engineer has quietly reversed the fate of a generation of Windows Mixed Reality headsets by releasing a native SteamVR driver that restores full headset and motion-controller functionality on Windows 11 builds that Microsoft left unsupported — but the fix comes with...
Valve’s SteamVR beta has quietly added a major usability safety net: SteamVR Beta 2.13.1 will automatically prefer and install the community-built Oasis driver when it detects a Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) headset running on Windows 11 versions that no longer support Microsoft’s WMR runtime...
A quiet software miracle has turned a stack of nearly obsolete Windows Mixed Reality headsets back into usable PC VR hardware: Oasis, a free, unofficial SteamVR driver released by Matthieu Bucchianeri, restores direct SteamVR support to Windows MR devices on modern Windows 11 systems and, in the...
August 29, 2025 delivered an unexpected lifeline to owners of aging Windows Mixed Reality headsets: a new native SteamVR driver called Oasis that restores direct SteamVR/OpenXR compatibility for devices left orphaned after Microsoft deprecated the Mixed Reality Portal. (roadtovr.com)
Background...
Microsoft rolled out the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update to the public on October 17, 2017, and launched a coordinated push into consumer mixed reality with a family of Windows Mixed Reality headsets from major OEMs — a move that paired a significant platform update with hardware designed to...
3d design
3d in office
fall creators update
ink
inside-out tracking
microsoft store
mixed reality
oem partners
paint 3d
samsung odyssey
sixdof
steam
steamvr
surface book 2
timeline
uwp
win32
windows 10
windows mixed reality
wmr
Microsoft’s plan to ship the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update alongside Windows Mixed Reality hardware crystallized in Berlin this fall, but a closer look at the timeline, features, and promises shows a mix of ambitious engineering, marketing finesse, and a few important caveats for enthusiasts...
Microsoft's decision to deprecate its Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) platform in 2024 left many VR enthusiasts with hardware that seemed destined for obsolescence. However, a new development promises to breathe life back into these devices. An unofficial SteamVR driver, aptly named 'Oasis,' is set...
For the tens of thousands of VR enthusiasts who invested in Windows Mixed Reality headsets, the past year has felt like betrayal. With the arrival of the Windows 11 24H2 update, Microsoft quietly pulled the plug on its entire Mixed Reality (MR) platform—rendering a slew of devices from industry...
With Microsoft’s sweeping changes in Windows 11 24H2, thousands of existing Windows Mixed Reality (MR) headsets—from manufacturers like Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung—have found themselves at a dramatic crossroads. Official support for these devices has been unceremoniously stripped...
e-waste reduction
hardware support
indie vr
microsoft windows 11
oasis driver
open standards
openxr
reverse engineering
steamvr
user empowerment
virtual reality
vr community
vr compatibility
vr development
vr hardware
vr headsets
vr industry
vr revivals
vr technology
windows mixed reality
Mixed reality will unleash the creativity of every person and every organization on the planet. Our journey has been filled with key moments in time that have shown us what is possible as we enter this next era of computing, the era of mixed reality. From the introduction of Microsoft HoloLens...