I get what you're saying and maybe I'm being harsh, but the whole backdrop of the article is this supposedly amazing framework that was built. It undermines a lot of his points that it is poorly used.

The apps listed in the talk (Photos, Sites, Plus, Drive, Play) all seem to have gotten much better lately? Are you actually sure you are talking about the same framework as the author? Google has so many it can be confusing.

If you'd be talking about the closure library and dreaded goog.ui.Component, I'd agree but that isn't it.