Could you get any more pretentious sounding?

This sounds like a good thing. Google knows where its success comes from and doesn't shy away from that.

But it does sound like there's a bit too much bike-shedding going on in terms of design.

These people have less taste than Microsoft, previously the low-water mark.

Less taste, really? I highly doubt it. I've found all of Google's interfaces to be clean. Microsoft's stuff on the other hand...