Google has been like this for me since last week. It's buggy; the auto-complete box sometimes gets detached and just floats in the page. I hope I can turn the sidebar off in the future.<p>I do like the softer logo, though.
One of the reasons I stay with Google is because of their minimal design aesthetic. The further they deviate from that, the more likely I am to leave.<p>Although, I'm not sure where I'd go.