I was initially upset about this, but I have to admit the Nexus S is fairly behind what most would consider modern smartphone hardware to be. Single core CPU, no GPU, barely any RAM to speak of, it's no surprise that Android has progressed to the point where it simply could not run well on such a device. Besides that, there is documentation available (though not widely advertised) that states that Nexus devices have an 18 month support lifecycle and the Nexus S hit that back in July.

I'll just have to accept my fate, and pick up a Nexus 4 when I'm able.