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A ton of new features are in the works for Microsoft Teams over the next few months. During Ignite, Microsoft revealed many of them including the general availability of immersive spaces in January.

The Microsoft Mesh toolkit is now officially available as a public preview. Developers can download and use the Mesh toolkit to create unique 3D online meetings and collaborative experiences

Microsoft Mesh, which was first announced over two years ago as a way to chat with avatars in 3D digital settings, is finally launching as a public preview version in Microsoft Teams in October.

The previously revealed Avatars are just some of the new features that are coming in the near future to Microsoft Teams users, including Microsoft Mesh-powered immersive spaces and more.

It seems that Avatars for Microsoft Teams will hit general availability in May 2023. Powered by the Microsoft Mesh MR platform, these personalized creations will allow you to take camera breaks.

Microsoft recently emphasized that it is fully committed to the HoloLens 2 and mixed reality (MR) space, despite recent events such as the laying off of the entire MRTK team suggesting otherwise.

Microsoft has announced the availability timeframes for a range of exciting new features for Teams. This includes Mesh avatars, a Microsoft Places app, and a massively improved channels experience.

A report claiming that Microsoft is internally working on bringing games to Teams has surfaced. If the plan ever materializes, it will likely include casual games like Solitaire and Wordament.

Senior Microsoft executive Alex Kipman has exited the company following allegations of misconduct. Kipman led numerous projects at Microsoft including Kinect and, most recently, HoloLens and Mesh.

Qualcomm and Microsoft are collaborating to design custom chips and offer integrations between their respective software to drive the adoption of augmented reality solutions and the metaverse.

Microsoft is bringing Mesh to Teams, enabling organizations to create immersive mixed-reality spaces to host meetings between personalized avatars. Over 800 3D emoji are being made available too.

As previously hinted, Microsoft has announced financing plans for HoloLens 2 Development Edition in the United States. The 0% interest options go as low as $97.22/month for a three-year plan.

The week brought us Ignite news, Exchange on-prem vulnerability news, and even some expected Insider build news. Make sure to catch up with everything that happened via our handy overview.

Microsoft Mesh is a new platform that aims to revolutionalize mixed reality by bringing real-time virtual collaboration across multiple devices. The Mesh app is now available in preview on HoloLens.