Craddock’s explanation is astounding: according to him, Google Glass never had any practical use and made you look stupid wearing it. The screen was way too small and clunky. No one on the development team would have wanted to try them out, instead the glasses just sat collecting dust in the USB charging port on their desk.
A product that does nothing – and makes you unpopular
Conversely, a call to third-party developers to come up with a ‘killer app’ for Google Glass also meant that Google itself had run out of ideas. No one on the team admitted to these abuses and so an “ugly, useless product was released that clearly nobody wanted”, writes Craddock on Twitter.
Some early adopters also had bad experiences with Google Glass: the glasses were ripped off their heads in the street, they were thrown out of bars or a movie theater and received tickets for “driving glasses”.
Google’s parallels with Meta are striking
The parallels between Google then and Meta today are obvious. According to New York Times research, the Metaverse is now only referred to as “MMH”, short for “make Mark happy”. However, in an internal survey, only about 60 percent of Meta staff stated that they understood the company’s direction when it came to Metaverse.
Zuckerberg himself is said to have encouraged his staff to hold meetings within the metaverse – which initially failed because employees often were not given a VR headset, but had to purchase one privately. The installation, operation and constant updates added to the frustration.
For the love of the Metaverse – by order
“Why don’t we love our own product so much that we use it all the time?” lamented Meta Vice President Vishal Shah on a company bulletin board in September, adding, “Everyone should make it their mission to Horizon Worlds” — that’s the name of the virtual environment — so “go in!” Managers are now even required to time their teams’ virtual stays in the metaverse.
If you believe John Carmack, the consulting chief technology officer at Meta’s VR division Reality Labs, who himself is “grumpy” about the current state of development, things can and will get even better. Even if he doesn’t really believe that the Metaverse can just be thrown out of the ground.
Two more questions for the Metaverse
Judging by the case of Google Glass, Zuckerberg’s metaverse will also have to answer two questions: What concrete use does all this have here – and will we perhaps look stupid?