50% of all communication between Chrome and Google sites is now through a path that is not standardized, nor on track to standardization, and is just special to the combination of Google's browser plus Google's sites. That sets off warning lights for some people, and for good reason.
I totally get that to experiment with a new protocol, you need real-world data. Definitely. So if say 1% or 5% of that communication were non-standard, I really wouldn't have much of an issue. But when the "experimentation" is 50%, it's on the verge of being the normal path; it doesn't seem like experimentation. Perhaps they could continue the experiment and go from 50% to 60% or 80% - there isn't much a difference at that point. In fact, if the new protocol is better, it would be almost irrational not to - if 50% is considered ok ethically, and moving to 60% saves costs, then why wouldn't you?
I'm not saying that there is something wrong here. It's not even seriously worrying, given Google's positive track record on SPDY. Still, it's very close to the edge of being worrying. That worry of course is that they expand beyond 50%, and are slow to standardize or never do so - in which case things would clearly be wrong. Again, Google has a good reputation here, given SPDY. Still, I'm surprised Google feels ok to move half of all communication to a non-standard protocol, apparently unconcerned about that worrying anyone.
