HN is seemingly so oversaturated with NSA items that they're seeping into all submissions regardless:
I'll assume you are not trolling and just misinformed so I'll address your 'elephants':
- Google already said that there are no "links": http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2013/jun/19/google...
- Statistical analysis of Google closures shows that they deprecate products at below industry pace, so your impression about that is also wrong: http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns