it's in fact precisely becuase Google got such a reputation for technical excellence and 'doing the right thing' that people feel so betrayed when google's products suck, or they act in their own business interest and against their users interests.

Fewer people would bother posting a blog about a Microsoft product that sucked (or used to be good and now sucked), or a Microsoft decision that was bad for users but good for MS. Or if they did, nobody would pay attention.

But, yeah, agree with you, I'm kind of glad that it's obvious that Google is quite capable of having crappy products or 'doing evil' -- in part it's smug satisfaction, in part it's because it makes them _less dangerous_ if people catch on to the dangers of their near monopolies.