I think we can all agree killing off NPAPI is the right choice. As google said it's ancient tech and it's holding them back. Netflix is the only thing I ever use that uses NPAPI, via Silverlight, and even they are moving to HTML5 video [0]. Also MS already killed off Silverlight [1] and other plugins. This is where we WANT to go with the web, a plugin-free world is goal...
Let's not try to make this a "If MS did this everyone would be up in arms" issue because that's not what it is. The article is super click-baity as Google isn't saying "Fuck You" to MS but to ALL of NPAPI which has outlived it's usefulness IMHO.
[0] http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/05/yosemite-finally-allows-netfli...
[1] http://www.itworld.com/article/2736986/enterprise-software/m...