Mycroft – open source voice assistant
I backed on IndieGoGo (in late 2018 I think), then helped crowdfund on StartEngine. I want <i>so badly</i> to speak well of these guys, and since I invested I want them to succeed, but it&#x27;s been getting harder to do so.<p>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&#x27;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&#x27;s currently $349, then will go to $500. They&#x27;re at a point where if they don&#x27;t get sales at those prices, they&#x27;re not going to be able to deliver to backers; at least that&#x27;s how they framed it when they discussed rollout.<p>They are actually shipping, though! Which didn&#x27;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&#x27;s been a bit of fracturing of the ecosystem as a result.<p>In conclusion: I&#x27;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&#x27;s arc and said &quot;no thanks&quot;.<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;old.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;Mycroftai&#x2F;comments&#x2F;yitzzk&#x2F;mycroft_mark_ii_review&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;old.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;Mycroftai&#x2F;comments&#x2F;yitzzk&#x2F;mycroft_m...</a>