James Whittaker:
The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus.
This article is a year old, but I think it says a lot about the changes Google has been, and still is, going through. Worth a read for sure.
Highlighted by referring to their Glass effort as a moonshot during SXSW, to which the reply was, “your putting Glass on the moon?”
If he really believed that, he never truly understood the company he worked for. They were always an advertising company.