As mentioned yesterday, Google's image is starting to tarnish thanks to reports from the interview process. Now comes this article from IT World about how (courtesy Slashdot), some day, we'll likely view Apple and Google less favorably, much as has happened to Microsoft. It's an amusing read about the fickleness of consumers.
This concept seems to generalize fairly easily, too. The US is a good example, in that we were the golden child for a long time, helping out in WWI and WWII. Then, as our prevalence and dominance expanded, we became targets of our own allies, until today, as our economy stumbles (possibly taking down others with us), we're looked at as the horse's rear. Environmental policy is a good example, in that the US opposed the absurd Kyoto protocol, refusing to sign (unlike the hypocrites who have signed it, but concluded that it's too expensive to implement) on the basis of its being inadequate, ineffective, too costly, and unfair.
I find it interesting. It's so easy to hate the big leader. It's so much harder to create constructive criticism and actually initiate meaningful change.