I think this goes to show how great the perceived importance of google is. For most people google is the go to search engine, it is what the vast majority of the population in the western world uses to navigate the internet, while also hosting a ton of internet services.
What would, in a hypothetical, happen if google decided to take their ball and go home? No new contracts for hosting, no new code, and when already running contracts are up they aren't renewed. Google takes down the entire virtual infrastructure hosted and built by the company. How badly would this effect people who regularly use the internet?
I know that my county has teachers using google docs and google drive for sharing of papers, homework, reading, and essay writing. Most also keep their lesson plans in a purely online format. And that's just one institution.