I imagine there's a small but significant overlap between the people who are still annoyed about the Google Reader Shutdown a full decade later and the people who are today making large scale cloud computing purchasing decisions.
I doubt Google took into account how damaging for their reputation is would be to shut down a product that had an audience that was small but extremely online and influential, both at the time and into the future.
So much this. I was lied to and strung along for weeks by Huawei support about a missing feature that should have been in their personal 4G dongles. Guess who blacklisted all Huawei gear in the last company I worked at. Guess who's now working in government IT procurement.
Not everything is numbers and loss centers. Don't lie and do the right thing. Treat people with honesty and respect. It's not that difficult.
I am not in charge of the biggest buys in the world, but that describes me. I have chosen AWS or Azure everytime over Google Cloud mostly because Google Reader shutdown.
I doubt Google took into account how damaging for their reputation is would be to shut down a product that had an audience that was small but extremely online and influential, both at the time and into the future.