Johnson Control drops Cortana from their Smart Thermostat

by Surur
August 12, 2019

Almost exactly two years after its announcement, HVAC company Johnson Control has announced the coming removal of Cortana from their Azure-powered smart thermostat.

GLAS was powered by Windows IOT and Azure Cloud, and features voice control powered by Cortana Voice Services.

Today Slashgear reports that the company has sent out a notice to customers informing them that a coming software update will excise Cortana functionality.

Interestingly this means the device will have no built-in voice control, and will be relying on a separate Amazon Echo or Google Home to control the thermostat – somewhat less than what buyers were paying for.

In the letter, Johnson Control does not give a reason for the move, but given that Microsoft has itself excised Cortana from Windows 10 (to turn it into a separate app), likely not much reason is needed.

See Microsoft’s original promo video, made in better times, of the device below.

YouTube player

Via ZDNet

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