Ya, this article heavily underemphasized the research Google has done in conversational systems. These devices won't have mainstream appeal until you can just

Ya, this article heavily underemphasized the research Google has done in conversational systems. These devices won't have mainstream appeal until you can just talk to one with minimal instruction. Although at this time Google Home is only conversational for search and is still very bad about being entirely keyword based in context; I suspect that this will change.