It's because all of those instances of "more wood behind fewer arrows" indicate Google is going on a war-footing.
Look at all their more recent activity aside from the not-quite-here-yet Glass and Driverless Car projects:
1) Google+ is an attack against Facebook
2) Shopping Express is attacking Amazon
3) Chromebook and Nexus are attacking Apple and Microsoft directly.
4) Chrome is about to metastasize into a full-on OS, and this can be seen in Google's lack of interest in fixing simple "browser" issues as they put more and more kitchen sink into Chrome.
All of this is well and good - companies need to press their competitors in order to stay profitable and secure.
However, all of this coming at the expense of many their cool projects and widely used services like Reader. What's next, Voice (use G Chat instead)? Blogs (use G+ instead)? It sucks wondering what's next on the chopping block.
If Google is going to war, then they're no longer "nice" or "neutral". Google is throwing down the gauntlet and there's a fear that they'll be as closed as Apple or Microsoft, if they feel it's more profitable.
Sure, and 0) Google is an attack against Yahoo! (1998)
> Google's lack of interest in fixing simple "browser" issues
What do you mean by that? IMHO Chrome is the best browser around these days. In (well, almost) all dimensions - html5 spec feature coverage and quality, speed, security, etc.
Look at all their more recent activity aside from the not-quite-here-yet Glass and Driverless Car projects:
1) Google+ is an attack against Facebook 2) Shopping Express is attacking Amazon 3) Chromebook and Nexus are attacking Apple and Microsoft directly. 4) Chrome is about to metastasize into a full-on OS, and this can be seen in Google's lack of interest in fixing simple "browser" issues as they put more and more kitchen sink into Chrome.
All of this is well and good - companies need to press their competitors in order to stay profitable and secure.
However, all of this coming at the expense of many their cool projects and widely used services like Reader. What's next, Voice (use G Chat instead)? Blogs (use G+ instead)? It sucks wondering what's next on the chopping block.
If Google is going to war, then they're no longer "nice" or "neutral". Google is throwing down the gauntlet and there's a fear that they'll be as closed as Apple or Microsoft, if they feel it's more profitable.