

Google Glass believers losing faith - isgood12
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-glass-future-clouded-early-120000814.html

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jimrandomh
Google needed to do either of two things: make the software good enough to be
acceptable, or provide source code so that people could fix the issues
bothering them themselves. They did neither of those things. Instead, they
took the open-source Android operating system, made a closed-source fork, and
proceeded to go around breaking APIs to stop regular Android software from
working.

When I got Glass in November 2013 (XE11), I could run an ssh client on it and
use it with a Bluetooth keyboard, along with lots of other Android software. A
month later (XE12), they somehow managed to break the dialog box API. And XE11
was configured with the most aggressive auto-updater you'll ever see, so you
couldn't stay back. Four months after that, they released the brick-half-the-
fleet update (XE16). (That happened because Glass was configured with no swap,
all their users had 1GB memory devices, but all their internal testers had 2GB
memory devices. The updater would run out of memory mid-update and die,
leaving an unbootable system.) As a side effect, that update also flashes a
hidden firmware so XE11 won't boot anymore. Also, it strips out everything
related to bluetooth keyboard support. Also, it disables touchpad gestures for
Android apps.

Also, the terms of service for the Glass SDK are incompatible with the GPL,
ban charging for Glass sofware, and ban advertising in Glass software, so
there's basically no third-party software and none coming.

Oh, and it sends all your photos to Google (can't disable auto-backup even by
rooting and messing with internals). And if you pair it with a phone, it
copies any text messages stored on that phone, and sends those to Google.

This is very sad, because the hardware itself is excellent, and it (almost)
does something that I really really wanted. XE11 worked well enough that I
invested considerable time and energy into it, and I ended up walking away
feeling like Google was constantly sabotaging my efforts.

Meanwhile the pace of actually-useful updates is utterly glacial; there
clearly aren't enough developers working on it to have any hope of fixing the
outstanding issues. So yeah, I've given up hope on Glass. I'll revisit it if
they open the source code or announce new management with someone who
understands software at the helm.

~~~
serve_yay
I really don't think the problem is at that level, this product has a social
problem. There are significant numbers of people who hate it and its users
before it even has a go-to-market date.

~~~
jimrandomh
That's also a problem, but I don't think it's the main one. I found that all
the objections went away when I put a lens-cap over the camera. Unfortunately,
that requires rooting and installing closed-source third party software,
because it uses the camera as a light sensor and doesn't provide a way to
override the brightness.

------
ktcoupon
Maybe this wouldn't have happened if Google didn't fuck up releasing Google
Glass like they fucked up releasing Google+.

Making it so god damn exclusive for several years then expecting people to
jump up at the chance isn't how things work anymore. You can only stay hyped
about things for so long. I've personally even forgot the damn thing existed
and only reacted with a "meh, no one has it, so it's not a loss to anyone".

------
nanoscopic
I was offered to get glass in one of the initial "exclusive" waves. I turned
it down due to having seen the estimates on how much the physical hardware
costs to produce and speculation that it may be $500 when actually released to
market.

If you buy Google glass you are just handing money to Google right now.

In my opinion Google is intentionally killing off the consumer version of
glass in recognition that they can and will continue to be able to overcharge
certain groups of people for it.

------
CmonDev
Just give it a year - they will merge Magic Leap tech into it, thus making it
actually augment the reality.

