Google Glass believers losing faith

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.

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".

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.

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