The tech is cool. The UI as described is for campy unergonomic noobs, only.
"he is trying to see Project HoloLens as if for the first time" This is a rather significant problem when talking about the real world as per the article. Consider the electrician discussion in the article. Real electricians want / need / expect real tools, not noob friendly fisher price toys.
Its a tool for camp. As wikipedia says "based on deliberate and self-acknowledged theatricality." And camp doesn't appeal to everyone, all the time. If they were making a UI based on camp in a cultural era of camp ascendance, lets say the late 60s, early 70s in the USA, then this would be a win, it would be "groovy", it would be "boss". But... it isn't.
Another way to describe it is ergonomic problems. I'm used to expressing myself, however poorly, staccato finger gestures at 104 keys at a desk at 100+ WPM. Any failure is a failure of my own creativity, not the user interface of my keyboard, which seems fairly capable in better hands... Now I must downshift and do interpretive dance, or gang hand symbols to communicate. No, I think not. Aside from gorilla arms problems limiting duration and comfort (no 12 hour shifts at the computer, for better or worse). And the speech interface limits it to quiet home use, while alone.
The optical technology sounds incredibly impressive, I'd love to play Minecraft wearing it. Or Forza, or a zillion other games. Its just the UI that sounds truly awful.
I'd imagine that the target is a replacement of the PC. You could (theoretically) have the same utility as a PC with a wireless keyboard/mouse paired with the headset. On top of that is all the holographic applications that will be figured out.
One general HUD use case I think would be beneficial is a driving aid: pedestrian and vehicle detection (or in rural areas animal detection). Whether the HUD is goggles or projected onto the windshield the extra data would be useful when driving. Automatic braking systems are great and all, but if you can see a deer on the side of the road in the distance via a HUD at night you can slow down well in advance (whereas the automatic braking system would engage when the deer crosses the road).
I would want to see more than a couple of independent tests verifying this is actually safer before it were allowed on roads. I can see the potential benefits but there are enough terrible drivers already without introducing more distractions.
Think about the holodeck from star trek. From an entertainment standpoint, you could immerse yourself in another world and solve a mystery. You could also learn all sorts of stuff with live instructions while working with physical tools when doing things like woodworking or electrical work etc.
Both portable cell phones and PDAs existed 10 years ago. The smartphone was a logical extension of those paradigms. AR Glasses (for lack of a better term) are still very young.
