Current HMD lenses collimate the light so you focus on infinity which is isn't too stressful for your eyes. There's still strain from vergence-accommodation conflict, but I think light field displays will outpace the holographic waveguide tech that MS is using.
Yeah but will you still focus to infinity while you're trying to read text? That's the main thing with VR for desktop use - reading text.
Because of the initial low pixel density it'd make sense to have a billboard sized screen, which would solve that issue. There's no reason that you'd need the stereo disparity for reading text.
In practice, anything that's placed 10ft+ away doesn't cause much stress for me although that's probably somewhat personal.
I think within 2-3yrs displays that solve the focal plane issue will be commonplace so this will be a bit of a moot point.
Wouldn't focusing on infinity be a problem for people who are myopic? I imagine everything would be blurred, and I don't think glasses would be wearable together with the VR gear.
Update: as other people have mentioned, the resolution is also not quite there yet with the Oculus to have a convincing virtual desktop.