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.

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.

Although, I'm not sure where I'd go.