Cortana Is Being Removed From Its Own Thermostat

Ok so remember the Cortana-powered thermostat that launched almost a year ago? Yeah, that really gorgeous thermostat with a translucent display, with Cortana at the heart of it? The one made by Johnson Controls that was widely promoted as a Cortana-powered thermostat?

Well, Cortana is getting kicked out, from its own house.

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The Verge reports that Johnson Controls is rolling out a software update to the GLAS thermostat that gets rid of Cortana from the Cortana-powered thermostat. “The Microsoft Cortana voice assistant will no longer work on your device. Moving forward, you will still have access to other voice assistants to control your thermostat through the Works with functionality of Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant,” said Johnson Controls, in an email to GLAS users.

So yes, regardless of whatever you may have heard online about Cortana being a consumer-faced priority for Microsoft, this just continues to prove that wrong. I mean, Microsoft themselves are kicking Cortana off their own products, so you really can’t blame Johnson Controls here.

The whole situation is still hilarious, though. Alexa, play Sad Trombone.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 29 comments

  • StevenLayton

    12 August, 2019 - 6:05 pm

    <p>So, the software update will improve the device then? (Sorry, couldn’t resist)</p>

  • SvenJ

    12 August, 2019 - 6:20 pm

    <p>Wonder when my Harmon Kardon Invoke speakers will dump her?</p>

  • sandy

    12 August, 2019 - 7:47 pm

    <p>So much then for that recent speculation of Samsung replacing Bixby with Cortana.</p>

    • nicholas_kathrein

      Premium Member
      13 August, 2019 - 9:08 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#448970">In reply to Sandy:</a></em></blockquote><p>Really. Why would they ever do this? If Google is the leader in this and it's built in already to Android why would they settle on a worse 3rd party assistant? It's one thing if it's yours like Bixby and your trying to make your own controlled eco system but once your relying on a third party why on a worse one than the class leader?</p>

  • hellcatm

    12 August, 2019 - 8:42 pm

    <p>That's to bad. Cortana on Windows Phone was really good. She did one thing that I wish Google would do and that's how she handled text messages. I used that feature so often and every so often I look for something similar on Android and nothing comes close.</p><p><br></p><p>Google is good and getting better, I haven't used Alexis much and well I won't even mention the other one. Cortana was a contender, just didn't get a really good shot. And Paul is right, a voice assistant on a PC right now isn't really useful. Until we get to Star Trek like functionality, it won't be. Maybe when the next breakthrough comes Cortana will come back? But then again maybe not.</p>

    • codyoz

      13 August, 2019 - 12:50 am

      <blockquote><em>"</em><a href="#448971">She did one thing that I wish Google would do and that's how she handled text messages." </a></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote>Absolutely. This was one of the most useful abilities of Cortana and it worked extremely well. Alas, when I do move over to Android this will be the one thing that I will miss most.</blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote>How MSFT can drop the ball on this [Cortana] and so many other things is astounding to me and has now made me realize the net worth of any commitment MSFT [from Nadella down] makes to its loyal hardware and software customers.</blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote>But hey.. Nadella HAS brought political correctness to the organization! </blockquote><p><br></p>

    • bleached

      13 August, 2019 - 12:17 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#448971">In reply to HellcatM:</a></em></blockquote><p>Just ask Google assistant and it will read your messages. What is so hard about that? They even recently added support for third party messenging apps.</p>

    • marius_muntean

      21 August, 2019 - 5:44 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#448971">In reply to HellcatM:</a></em></blockquote><p>Have you even used Google Assistant? Guess not, if you complain it can't read text messages…when it actually can.</p>

  • BlackForestHam

    12 August, 2019 - 10:29 pm

    <p>Alexa, play Chopin’s <span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">Piano Sonata No. 2</span> for Cortana. </p>

  • csalese

    13 August, 2019 - 12:05 am

    <p>Perhaps if we beg Microsoft will finally give up on the consumer space outside of Office/mail/cloud storage and of course Xbox. Everything else they try just turns to sh#t!</p>

  • ponsaelius

    13 August, 2019 - 4:01 am

    <p>The new Microsoft. </p>

  • Passinttd

    13 August, 2019 - 8:12 am

    <p>I mean, it's not like they are dragging consumers along and having them think that Cortana is going to stick around for years so that people invest in her only to find out that Microsoft never put any effort behind it and let it rot in the corner. Oh wait.</p><p><br></p><p>Edit: </p><p>Would like to add that I have one of these and have had it for a while now. Great looking device. App is slow as all get out. Cortana was 100% useless on this device. She could tell a joke but that was about it. Cortana on Invoke only worked once when I asked what the temperature of my house was and it had to be in very specific wording that was way to complex to give two cents about. All in all, my thermostat is not a spot where I really need an assistant at any way.</p>

  • nicholas_kathrein

    Premium Member
    13 August, 2019 - 9:05 am

    <p>So Google is constantly get crap about killing things. I assume when other companies kill your products it different? Just asking for a friend.</p>

  • gregsedwards

    Premium Member
    13 August, 2019 - 9:56 am

    <p>Wow. Glad I dodged that bullet, then. I had already invested in a several less-expensive Honeywell Lyric connected thermostats for my home, and I couldn't justify the expense of switching to Johnson GLAS just to get Cortana built into the device. Didn't really make sense anyway, given my thermostats are all within earshot of Invoke and/or Echo speakers, as well as my Xbox consoles, all of which feature some degree of Cortana integration. Plus, Honeywell integrates with both platforms, as well as SmartThings.</p><p><br></p><p>All that said, I think it's disappointing, but by no means a death knell for the product or for Cortana. Look at the cited example of Xbox dropping the built-in Cortana voice commands. In this case, they're just re-designing the feature to work differently. The referenced article states that you'll still be able to interact with your Xbox via Cortana or Alexa (and probably others down the road), but you'll do it through another device, such as a smart speaker or app on your phone. They'll improve the command set to allow more targeted interactions than previously possible. That's an arguably better strategy, given that I already have an Invoke in the living room next to my Xbox console, and every time I say "Hey Cortana…" both devices step all over each other trying to accommodate my request.</p><p><br></p><p>Cortana isn't going away, any more than Excel is going away. It's a foundation technology that powers a lot of the AI and ML at the core of today's Microsoft. It's likely to find a new role on your consumer devices, but they're in it for the long haul.</p>

  • bbold

    13 August, 2019 - 10:21 am

    <p>Yet another Microsoft thing to put on the sh*t list of products they've canned shortly after announcing them. I really feel at this point Microsoft needs to fire and re-hire its internal PR and marketing teams. As far as Consumers go, they couldn't sell water to a fish.</p><p><br></p>

    • marius_muntean

      21 August, 2019 - 5:40 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#449048">In reply to bbold:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's not that they can't, they don't want to have anything to do with consumer stuff on the most part. That's why you have bad PR, bad marketing and less competent resources for the consumer stuff, well, except xbox. I am quite surprised that they did not mess up the quality in the surface phones, although, at the amount of $$ those things cost, you can get same quality, much cheaper elsewhere.</p>

  • glenn8878

    13 August, 2019 - 3:53 pm

    <p>I'm glad I upgraded from a mercury <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">thermostat&nbsp;to a $20 off-brand thermostat. Microsoft needs to stop doing consumer oriented me-too projects. The only one they stuck with is Xbox… at least for now. And Surface…. how much longer?….</span></p>

  • chaad_losan

    13 August, 2019 - 4:25 pm

    <p>The Assassination of Cortana!</p>

  • YouWereWarned

    13 August, 2019 - 4:27 pm

    <p>So I rounded up the two Invokes I placed in my elderly parents home because "that lady's out-of-nowhere voice scares your Mom". And my wife has already exiled our Invoke to the junkpile because "I don't want that woman listening to everything I say".</p><p><br></p><p>So I plan to put the three Invokes in a circle then ask "Cortana–tell me about Cortana" and wait for the smoke to come out…</p>

  • marius_muntean

    21 August, 2019 - 5:37 am

    <p>:)) maybe this time, the guys from windowscentral will have a more realistic attitude and stop being just a bunch of fanboys.</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC