I backed on IndieGoGo (in late 2018 I think), then helped crowdfund on StartEngine. I want so badly to speak well of these guys, and since I invested I want them to succeed, but it's been getting harder to do so.
They deserve credit for being reasonably transparent about their processes though. Their blog has been very interesting to follow. They had a ton of issues trying to work out their original design, then the pandemic hit. So in a way, timing has been bad. In the meantime they spent a lot of time on the software side, then on the fundraising side, then deck shuffling at the top, and now they're finally shipping something that looks nothing like what the Kickstarter showed. Instead of being close to the $200 price point they wanted to be at, it's currently $349, then will go to $500. They're at a point where if they don't get sales at those prices, they're not going to be able to deliver to backers; at least that's how they framed it when they discussed rollout.
They are actually shipping, though! Which didn't look like a guarantee for awhile. However, the reviews have been a bit lukewarm; [this][1] being an example. They had a way to make skills and they apparently changed it in order to better accommodate their final product, so it seems like there's been a bit of fracturing of the ecosystem as a result.
In conclusion: I'd love for you to support them! I still believe this segment needs a player like Mycroft, Mycroft can be that player, and I really want to not have my investments go to waste. But I 100% would not blame you if you looked at the company's arc and said "no thanks".
Those prices are really insane tbh. No way it will take off like that, it's just a non-starter. 200 was already the upper limit of what's doable.
I think they're stretching too much to satisfy the original backers and it's commendable not giving up on them but if it's going to be similar to Alexa, Siri or Google it's just not good enough.
If it were an actual assistant I could talk to, then yes. It would be worth it.
Imagine this.. I'm doing my laundry and mycroft pipes up.
"hey Alice is looking for you on telegram"
"Tell her I'll get back to her after I finish the laundry"
"Ok!"
...
"She says it's urgent, are you sure"?
"Ok call her please on speaker"
Or another scenario.
"hey mycroft I'm going out to the zoo"
"Ok make sure you bring an umbrella because it's going to rain in 2 hours "
Stuff like this. Right now assistants have zero short term memory, don't remember any of my preferences and can only understand one thing at a time. They're also not proactive at all. They don't know my life and habits and don't warn me when things are happening that I should know about. Yet most of those things are easily identified from notifications on my phone! It's not a stretch to expect this IMO. It's all thing I'd expect from a real assistant. All this low-hanging fruit turn on the bedroom light stuff is not worth money.
It's just that there's not much sales to link to it other than the service price (which I'd definitely pay for!!).
I don't think these scenarios are too far-fetched with the current state of AI tbh.
Ps blaming the pandemic is a bit rich. Their project was already down the drain for years before that. First they canned the original plan and then they had this DIY raspberry addon board and that was in huge trouble well before the pandemic. I'm sure it made matters worse but if they'd managed it properly it would all have been fulfilled years before corona meant anything other than beer.
I'm not sure that price is going to be a blocker. The audience may not think of price as the main thing here, they may think of openness and non-vendor lockin and privacy and security as pretty amazing things for that price.
I myself am getting tired AF of Google Assistant and their devices. So so tired of saying "Hey Google". And I have a Lenovo device with Google on it that was decent, the Google pushed an update to it and all video calls have an echo on them now making it entirely unusable. There are multiple threads on the internet about it too and Lenovo support says "contact Google" and Google says nothing on those threads, zilch. I don't trust Google devices anymore, they get abandoned routinely. I wish they didn't but I feel more empowered with an open device than I do with closed source, no public response Google stuff.
I'm definitely curious about trying a Mycroft now, and I think there may be others too. It may not be the masses but it might be enough to keep the project thriving.
I looked into them a few weeks ago because I am tired of the "Did you know.." and "Can I add that to your cart?" from Alexa. When I saw the device I was really disappointed. I can just never see getting one - it doesn't need a screen (cause it should be hidden) and why did they make it look like a 1960s sci-fi movie thing? IMHO it looks terrible.
The original design was great, but it just didn't work. They had too many issues trying to source hardware and decided to pivot to more off-the-shelf components.
That's the short version; here are some highlighted blog posts that document the trials and tribulations:
For what it's worth I'm intrigued by a screen. Theoretically it shouldn't be needed but if they want to have a reference device that can be used in multiple industries, it's better to have it than to not have it.
But that series of posts is why I'm still cheering for Mycroft despite everything: Clearly this stuff is hard, they've been out there trying hard, taking lumps, fighting off patent trolls, putting in the work. If they don't succeed, I'm not sure who else will pick up the reins and do any better.
They deserve credit for being reasonably transparent about their processes though. Their blog has been very interesting to follow. They had a ton of issues trying to work out their original design, then the pandemic hit. So in a way, timing has been bad. In the meantime they spent a lot of time on the software side, then on the fundraising side, then deck shuffling at the top, and now they're finally shipping something that looks nothing like what the Kickstarter showed. Instead of being close to the $200 price point they wanted to be at, it's currently $349, then will go to $500. They're at a point where if they don't get sales at those prices, they're not going to be able to deliver to backers; at least that's how they framed it when they discussed rollout.
They are actually shipping, though! Which didn't look like a guarantee for awhile. However, the reviews have been a bit lukewarm; [this][1] being an example. They had a way to make skills and they apparently changed it in order to better accommodate their final product, so it seems like there's been a bit of fracturing of the ecosystem as a result.
In conclusion: I'd love for you to support them! I still believe this segment needs a player like Mycroft, Mycroft can be that player, and I really want to not have my investments go to waste. But I 100% would not blame you if you looked at the company's arc and said "no thanks".
[1]: https://old.reddit.com/r/Mycroftai/comments/yitzzk/mycroft_m...