Mitch Radcliffe has a blog post on ZDNet entitled Google: Does it have to be all FUD all the time? where he writes

Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD–see Wikipedia) is how IBM tried to retain its dominance, what Microsoft used to cement its monopoly and, now, I suggest we review recent Google news and wonder:
...
Basically, four of the last five press releases from Google have amounted to “me and my friends are going to…” beat a major competitor or rule a marketplace based on pre-announcements without a great deal of substance or products that can be seen and used today. Google sounds more like Microsoft circa 1988-to-1992, when it was launching consortia right and left to block competitors without delivering much, or any, real product. Microsoft still does this, but it doesn’t enjoy the credibility (or, better, the credulousness) that greet Google announcements.

It seems I'm not the only one that noticed this trend. I guess the Features Not Products initiative morphed into a "FUD Not Products" initiative somewhere along the line. :)

Or maybe they just hit a critical mass of ex-Microsoft employees from the old days.

PS: For bonus points, read Dave Winer's Why Google launched OpenSocial.