While I am saddened by the fact that this is coming to an end, I understand it. I have always wanted to work in a "Bell labs" type of environment. Now that the little fish I was working at got bought by "big Corp" I have been angling to get something like this started at our division. But....
while I have the type of mind that does very well pulling in disparate ideas and melding them together, I have found that a lot of the other engineers, even the very smart ones, are not always good at invention. I can imagine that Google, has possibly found a way to identify the best group to allow the extra free time, rather than allowing it to everyone. Ideally, if they gave 75 to 100% freedom to the 1 to 5% that have the "gene" of true creativity, they will be better off.