I don't know of many companies which don't work very hard to establish a sort of amicable brand identity with potential customers, and Google is no different. But there is a danger in taking these marketing messages at face value, and it's not simply that you might begin to think of these companies as your friends, but equally that you might start to see them as your enemies.

Both of these reactions are understandable, but entirely flawed. When you are a customer, or potential customer, dealing with a vendor, you are not in a personal relationship, but a business relationship. And words like friends and enemies do not apply. Your judgement should not be predicated on warm fuzzies or on fears of evil intent, but rather on a rational cost/benefit analysis, just like they tried to teach you in business school. It's not about whether the company is cool, or whether they are sneaky... it's all about the bottom line. If you don't realize that Google is in a business, and that you are entering into a business dealing with them when you accept their terms of service, then you might think of them as friendly; if you don't have that realization and they suspend your account or similar, then you might think of them as back-stabbing betrayers. But you would be wrong on both counts; they are a business, engaging in profitable activities. There is nothing personal about it. So long as you can align your own interests with theirs, there isn't anything wrong with that. But you do have to realize where your interests and theirs lie, and when they might differ.

Of course, that's why you read blogs like this, isn't it? We're reading the tea leaves of major vendors' intentions. But then, this is a business, too... where are our interests, and yours? ;)