I've interviewed at Google twice now, and I have a couple of former students now working there. Which doesn't give me any special insight...

Anyway, I feel much the same way about Google and Apple (and perhaps even the SCA): it used to be about innovation and creativity, but as they got bigger, the lawyers and management types took over, and the innovation and creativity are now driven more by marketing than by "wouldn't it be cool if X existed? Let's build it!"