Watch any good movie with the devil, he always presents himself as a really nice guy with just a really great deal for the world. Not that I'm going to stop using gmail or anything.
It is only a matter of time before they become like any other large company, AKA evil.
The turning point was their IPO, after this they had had at least some responsibility to public shareholders. Public shareholders in general want the stock to rise. Not in a year, not in six months, but now. This means shortsighted decisions, that can hurt their image. But you don't see this on the quarterly report, since longterm benefits in form of image get sacrificed for short term benefits.
Also like any other growing tech company, the suits come in and take control. And all they care about is quarterly earnings and bonuses.
You can't judge a big company's soul based on small granular events unless they form a pattern.
Blackballing CNet was a bad move, as was agreeing to work with the Chinese government to censor search results, but if you're in a judging mood you have to look for the bigger picture, in which they do more good than evil. You'd also want to find articles like this: http://blog.domaintools.com/2008/01/google-to-kill-domain-ta...
It's all about image. When Google came on to the scene, everybody loved them (including myself) for supplying innovative technology that brought more order to something that was growing ever more disordered, and they were sticking-it to Microsoft as an under-dog as well. However, recently, I feel more and more people (including myself) are concerned over privacy (not just Google, but Facebook, etc.), hence, the ever rising rate of suspicion towards Google. I even find myself liking Microsoft because they appear to be the under-dog now in terms of internet technologies, and particularly after that Bill Gates video about his retirement - he seems like an alright guy! If Google did a video like that, then I am sure people would warm to them (even more). Doing good deeds every now and then just makes Google seem as if they are doing it for the sake of keeping face, whilst the Gates Foundations loud publicisings puts Microsoft in an increasingly positive light.
