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As a technical writer, he is the author of several books, including Zen of Assembly Language Volume 1: Knowledge (1990) and the Graphics Programming Black Book (1997) <ref name=”1”></ref>.
==Career history==
During 1993 or 1994, Michael Abrash found the book Snow Crash on a shelf. He decided to buy it and started reading it. This would have a great impact on him, and he got fascinated by the idea of the Metaverse, thinking that a lot of concepts that were explored in the book could be implemented back then. He even credits it has being an essential inspiration that allowed him to embark on the path that would eventually lead him to work in the field of virtual reality. During this time period, he was working at Microsoft, and was approached by John Carmack, from Id Software. The seminal game Quake was being developed by that company. Abrash knew Carmack previously from the M&T bulletin board when both were learning how to write 3D graphics code. During a meeting, Carmack invited Abrash to go work for his company after talking about creating persistent internet game servers, level building by players, and cyberspace. Abrash was fascinated by the challenge, joining Id Software and the small development team of Quake. The development time of the game was fast, helping him to grow as a programmer. Technically, it was a groundbreaking title, and gave rise to a genre and a community that continue to this day <ref name=”5”> Abrash, M. (2012). Valve: How I got here, what it’s like, and what I’m doing. Retrieved from http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/valve-how-i-got-here-what-its-like-and-what-im-doing-2/</ref> <ref name=”6”> Abrash, M. (2014). Introducing Michael Abrash, Oculus Chief Scientist. Retrieved from https://www3.oculus.com/en-us/blog/introducing-michael-abrash-oculus-chief-scientist/</ref>.
In 1996, two Microsoft employees (Mike Harrington and Gabe Newell) approached Id to license the Quake source code. They were leaving the company to start Valve Corporation and wanted that code to build their first game on. On the part of Id there was no particular interest to license the code. Abrash stepped in and facilitated getting the license done. It resulted in a good business for the parts involved and later Valve would build Half-life from that source code. He parted ways with Id Software shortly after helping with the deal, and wandered through a series of projects until joining Valve in October of 2010. Upon his arrival at the new company, he expected to be handed technical work, like visibility determination in the Source engine, or fog of war calculation in the game Dota 2. After a while, he understood that what was expected of him was research in high-impact things that no one else was doing; looking for the next platform shift. This led him to [[augmented reality]], and he started researching it with several other people. They had some questions and issues to be explored that presented challenges. According to Abrash some of these were, “what does a wearable UI look like, and how does it interact with wearable input? How does the computer know where you are and what you’re looking at? When the human visual system sees two superimposed views, one real and one virtual, what will it accept and what will it reject? To what extent is [[augmented reality]] useful – and if it’s useful, to what extent is it affordably implementable in the near future? What hardware advances are needed to enable the software?” This project was purely research and development - an initial investigation into a promising area - with no product expected for the immediate future <ref name=”4”></ref> <ref name=”5”></ref> <ref name=”6”></ref>.
The research group reached the conclusion that virtual reality was potentially more interesting than they had previously thought. Consequently, they switched over to working on VR instead of AR. This decision was influenced by the founding of Oculus VR and the success of its Kickstarter campaign, and also by the book Ready Player One that Abrash recommended his team to read. This change of direction resulted in a VR system that could create a sense of [[presence]], only a year and a half after they started research. This effort along with the success of Oculus VR technology helped resurrect virtual reality, making it the most exciting technology around and also solidifying Abrash’s reputation and knowledge in the VR field <ref name=”6”></ref> <ref name=”7”> Ingraham, N. (2014). Oculus VR hires Michael Abrash away from Valve as its new chief scientist. Retrieved from http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/28/5558286/oculus-vr-hires-michael-abrash-as-its-new-chief-scientist</ref>. Indeed, the two companies shared intelligence thanks to the relationship between Abrash and John Carmarck that became Oculus CTO (Chief Technology Officer). After more or less 4 years at Valve, Michael Abrash would be hired by Oculus VR to be its chief scientist, in 2014 <ref name=”7”></ref>.
According to Abrash, Facebook’s investment in Oculus VR means that it’s the best case scenario for those who want to see VR become a reality. His hiring also provided a rebuff to the idea that top VR talent wouldn’t be inclined to join Oculus after the company was bought by Facebook. The financial support given by the social media giant is a big factor in Abrash’s confidence in Oculus, as the resources and long-term commitment that will be provided allows for the expectation that the hard problems of VR will be solved. Indeed, Abrash thinks that VR is not The Next Big Platform but The Final Platform, the one that will end all other platforms <ref name=”6”></ref> <ref name=”7”></ref>.
==The future of VR==
At 2016 Oculus Connect 3, Michael Abrash gave a presentation about the development of VR in the near future. While it’s often easier to predict what the world is going to be like 20 years in the future instead of three years, the Oculus chief scientist has been almost spot on in his predictions, attested by a presentation given some years earlier, while at Valve <ref name=”8”> Langley, H. (2016). This is what virtual reality will (probably) look like in 2021. Retrieved from https://www.wareable.com/vr/michael-abrash-what-vr-will-look-like-in-2021</ref> <ref name=”9”> Abrash, M. (2014). What VR could, should, and almost certainly will be within two years. Retrieved from http://media.steampowered.com/apps/abrashblog/Abrash%20Dev%20Days%202014.pdf</ref>. The annual developer event, and the presentation by Michael Abrash, is a way of projecting forward thinking and an inspirational outlook at the future of VR. During his 2016 presentation he made specific predictions about the state of VR technology in five years. In general terms, he predicted that the boundaries between virtual reality and the real world will blur in the next years due to advancements in eye-tracking, optics, and audio. Indeed, he suggested that VR is going to leap ahead in the near future, and that currently we are in the edge of one of the most important technological revolutions of our lifetime <ref name=”8”></ref> <ref name=”10”> Brennan, D. (2016). Oculus chief scientist predicts the next 5 years of VR technology. Retrieved from http://www.roadtovr.com/michael-abrash-explores-next-5-years-vr-technology/</ref> <ref name=”11”> Brown, M. (2016). Michael Abrash: “No sharp line between VR and reality” in 5 years. Retrieved from https://www.inverse.com/article/21885-oculus-michael-abrash-augmented-vr-ar-facebook</ref>.
==Bibliography==
