tedster - 5:41 am on Feb 7, 2009 (gmt 0)

It's easy to see this as an intentional move on Google's part to hide search data - that's certainly a highly noticeable effect. However, my feeling is that they've been testing for some other purpose and weren't thinking about this repurcussion.

Until quite recently, I would not have even entertained the idea that Google would go live on a major test without thinking through some of the basic implications. But we've recently seen some seriously unvetted things happen with Google, the biggest of which was last weekend's "the whole Internet is malware" fiasco.

These AJAX test SERPs break Google Analytics, too. That seems like the sign of an accident to me - an unforeseen consequence that certainly SHOULD have been foreseen, but wasn't.