Google has come to think they're too big to fail. They don't seem to understand that video files can be hosted anywhere and designing delivery interfaces is not a big deal for most programmers.

It's an immutable law of business that when you start treating your customers with contempt, they'll go somewhere else - with advertisers following close behind.

They're really shooting themselves in the foot (can I say that?). My prediction is that YouTube ends up turning into a vast forsaken wasteland of cat videos and juvenile pranks.