Google is getting both boos and applause following its announcement Thursday it will stop Google Glass sales and shutter the Glass Explorer project as of Jan. 19.
The move comes as Glass graduates from Google's experimentation labs, known as Google X, to a more official perch, according to the search company's blog announcement.
"It's hard to believe that Glass started as little more than a scuba mask attached to a laptop," said Google on its Glass Google+ page. "We kept on it, and when it started to come together, we began the Glass Explorer Program as a kind of 'open beta' to hear what people had to say."
While the move out of the lab is getting applause, many Explorers are expressing a bit of anger they weren't contacted by Google directly about the news.
"I don't mind that +Google Glass is shifting gears away from the Explorer program. After all, eventually every explorer becomes a settler, right? I do think they could have handled the public relations on the announcement better, though," said Ari Adler on the Glass Explorers Google+ Community page. "How about sending out the information directly to Explorers instead of letting us read about it in the news?"
While some Glass users are disappointed in Google's decision to "discontinue" Glass, many are happy about the product's progress.
"I am excited for the future of +Google Glass and am proud of everyone in the #glassfamily for what we have achieved," said Andrew Pritykin, on Google's blog post. "This goes out to you, Google, we will be here waiting for the next version to test, love and adapt into our daily lives."
The news comes with a management change as well. While the Google Glass division will remain being led by Ivy Ross, Ross will now report to Tony Fadell, chief executive of Nest, which was acquired by Google around a year ago.
Google will stop taking orders for Glass on Monday but will continue supporting users. While Google said it is committed to the future of Glass, no time frame was given for a future release of Glass.
