VR Transforming the Workplace?

Niche or everywhere?  Still think this will take some time before it is common in the workplace. A typical machine interface?   AR more likely.

Why Virtual Reality Will Transform a Workplace Near You   By Logan Kugler 

Communications of the ACM, Vol. 60 No. 8, Pages 15-17

" ... VR and AR companies see the technology as the natural evolution of popular collaboration apps; instead of desktop interfaces or pinging phone apps, however, they envision a world in which we collaborate with coworkers and peers in highly realistic virtual or virtually augmented environments—a more immersive, versatile, and natural way to get business done.

This is no pipe dream like the VR of decades past. Thanks to the commercial viability of popular systems and apps, ambitious VR/AR products are already changing how professionals work, train, and cooperate. Company reps use the technologies to better train for customer-service interactions and to troubleshoot issues faster in real time using digital models. Manufacturers rely on the technology to better collaborate on the design and maintenance of components, and hospital systems employ VR and AR to remotely train doctors faster, less expensively, and more effectively.

This is just the beginning. Your next meeting might take place in a VR environment that makes it easier to identify who's speaking and how others feel about your ideas (if Peter Diamandis' company High Fidelity, which creates "open source software for creating, hosting, and exploring shared VR experiences," has its way). Entire collaboration exercises or corporate retreats might be hosted in virtual environments (courtesy of technology like that offered by AltspaceVR, a virtual reality software company building a new communication platform already used by people in more than 150 countries)   .... "