For some of us this is just the most recent event in a long series.

Is it necessarily an evil ploy this time? I say no. Should I cut them some slack? Again, I say no. When they are big enough to hurt others badly by being careless, then they should be taken to task just for being careless.

As someone said Google had mountains of goodwill until recently. When they have worked so long and so hard to make us dislike them I think they deserve to reap the rewards ;-)

Also, as someone else mentioned, there is the pattern of announcing something misleading on stage and then retracting it on a private blog later, just like big media tend to do.