Johnson Controls" GLAS thermostat caught the eyes of Microsoft enthusiasts with its choice to integrate the company"s Cortana voice assistant and the product"s beautiful transparent design. As it turns out though, one of those things is going away, as a software update for the device will be rolling out soon that will remove Cortana.
Microsoft sent an email (via The Verge) to GLAS users saying that Cortana will no longer work on the device, and that you"ll still be able to use Amazon"s Alexa and Google"s Assistant. Presumably, for those to work, you"d need to interact with a separate device like an Amazon Echo or Google Home, respectively.
It"s hard to argue that Cortana has failed to gain momentum around consumers, as the list of third-party devices that support it is a short one. There"s only one smart speaker that uses the virtual assistant, which is made by Harman Kardon. The only other mainstream third-party product was the GLAS.
So rather than pushing forward, Microsoft is scaling back. Cortana is also being removed from the Xbox One, with the company saying that in order to use Cortana with the console, you"ll now need to interact with a third-party device.