Vincent makes magic in the City of Lights.
He is a HoloLens developer in Paris, France and head of Innovative Interactions at OCTO Technology. Like many of the people profiled in this series, he has a long history with NUI interactions stretching back to the Kinect and original Surface Table. He is an in-demand speaker throughout Europe and also one of the organizers of NUI Day 2016.
What movie has left the most lasting impression on you?
I remember a movie called Explorers where a bunch of nerds receive schematics and source code from outer space and start building a spaceship. That definitely was the proof that convinced me anything is possible with a computer.
There were also some VR movies like:
The Lawnmower Man (I won’t give the actors names in order to respect their careers)
Disclosure with Demi Moore and Michael Douglas
and obviously T.R.O.N and The Matrix
Wargames was also a blast for me.
What is the earliest video game you remember playing?
Oh my God, I think it’s Pong on the Atari gaming console plugged into my TV.
Around the same time I also “play”-ed with my parents computer (IBM PC 198x with green and black display) and did some stuff in a text editor called EasyWriter.
I also had a Sharp MZ-80K computer with a tape drive. You had to type “Load MyProgram” and wait for tape to roll until it found the right entry. Or you could fast-forward for the right amount of time and press play to quickly switch programs. Kinda felt like hacker at this time.
Who is the person who has most influenced the way you think?
My father. He was a teacher and always tried to bring innovation / technology to his students and kids (no, he didn’t shrink us and lose us in the backyard).
When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
Last week, I finally decided to delay a customer summer project in order to spend more time with my family.
What’s a programming skill people assume you have but that you are terrible at?
Not a programming skill itself but quaternion, Euler angles and rotation matrices are my worst nightmare. I always end up filling my trash bin with a loads of angrily crumpled papers with mathematical nonsense written on it.
My wife (who is a scientist) usually comes to the rescue.
What inspires you to learn?
Passion and the desire to understand.
What do you need to believe in order to get through the day?
As long as I believe I can do it in 30 minutes, I try to do it. Usually it repeatedly takes 5 more minutes … 5 more minutes … 5 more minutes.
What’s a view that you hold but can’t defend?
Computer science is a passion, it’s a way of life. But it’s also a job. If you live for your job, you don’t need another hobby.
What will the future killer Mixed Reality app do?
There won’t be any killer app.
There was no killer app for TV, for Phone, for Smartphone.
A new medium like MR (or VR/AR) needs multiple services and added-values with a big S.
Training content, real-time assistance, virtual visits (museum, holiday location, real estate…), augmented preview for architecture and interior design…
And also smaller and cheaper devices…
What book have you recommended the most?
Rainbows End which is a good guess of what could happen to us.
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