Another one bites the dust
"Google justified the changes by saying its users were consuming tons of digital storage space in its cloud "
Well duh, you gave them the space, don't come complaining that they are using it. If I had availed myself of that cloud platform, I would currently have 61.6GB stored up there (the total of all my family picture data on my Photo disk) and I would be wondering just how much this change would impact me.
As usual, something offered up as free is now being taken advantage of to tie users into paying. A despicable move, even if it had been forewarned.
Honestly, people should stop falling for all that free crap - it's just a bait and switch.