Wannabe windows are functional, no question, for boats that truly need the benefits.
But in our opinions they are butt-ugly and totally destroy the aesthetcs of any boat that has them. And as we are not interested in operating a butt-ugly boat, we will never have a boat with them.
For recreational cruising, at least in the daytime, they offer zero advantage that we can see unless your pilothouse is so cramped that you have no choice but to mount instruments overhead. In which case we would never buy that boat, either, for that reason.
We have no glare issues at all with our "normal" forward windows but perhaps that's because American Marine intelligently designed a nice looking flying bridge overhang to take care of that.
All this is strictly my opinion of course. Beauty or aesthetics is totally in the eye of the beholder. But when I see a boat with wannabe windows, particulary a recreational boat, my immediate reaction is "boy, they sure screwed that design up," and I instantly dismiss that boat as not being worth looking at anymore. It becomes a "non boat" to me.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.