Microsoft thinks we're on a precipice where our tools are now good enough to make computers reflect the 3D world we all live in. They're definitely onto something: PCs today are almost universally powerful enough to render 3D graphics decently, and decades of 3D environments in video games have primed the pump on their use, even among novices.

"There was a time where if you were going to make a video that you were sharing with other people, you needed to have super-expensive equipment and go to film school and have a whole lot of training," explains Kudo Tsunoda, head of Windows Experiences studios at Microsoft. "And then at some point technology and the easy, simple ways of interacting made it so anybody can take a phone, shoot a video, edit it together, and now you can share it out to the world. And it's super emotionally relevant content to you because you created it. I think that's where we are now [with 3D]. "

With virtual and augmented reality, those 3D worlds can even appear as they were meant to — in "real" space, where users can view them at all angles and even touch them (with the right hardware). And 3D printers can make virtual objects solid; they aren't in every home yet, but they're reaching mainstream awareness.

In fact, it was a 3D printer — or rather a request for one — that started Microsoft on its path toward "3D for everyone." Saunders' 11-year-old daughter, Maddie, gave her mom a list of things she wanted for Christmas. At the top of the list: a 3D printer.

Curious, Saunders asked Maddie why she wanted a 3D printer, and she began listing many reasons, including kitchen utensils and "tiny soap."