I am curious do you think if he disclosed that at the start of the article you'd feel differently? I think the issue is that after reading and thinking the purpose was to give genuine advice you (and I agree btw) feel cheated knowing that there is some ulterior motive. Having an ulterior motive is fine but generally less of an issue if put upfront.
To be honest I think its more the content with this one. Check his medium profile. Guy gets in to Google then writes 9 different articles about it with clickbait titles. It's obvious the point of these articles are not to actually help anyone but exploit them.
I think if goal was to write an honest informative article and then plug their product thats fine by me.
And the articles itself isn't really saying anything. It's just a surface level description of some loosely related things that are different between the two companies and then a statement thats says that Google's way is better.
The answers are short because of course how much can you give in this type of AMA when an attorney is involved?
People seem to love it. I see it as just a way to troll for business by keeping your name in front of a potential audience.
I mean the law is the law and details and specifics matter. As such the amount that you can convey by answering a question seems so limited to almost be of no help unless you then go forward and hire the attorney and get into specifics.
Also he has no FAQ on his website because of course that would open him up to liability for offering legal advice but he could easily take his years of AMA's and answers and offer that info (and build an audience that way).
Adding: He does not have a presence in Mountain View it's what appears to be a Regus Virtual office. He is actually in Wilton Connecticut.