I agree but it is ingenious of Google to tie their premium products around open-source that it becomes an inseparable feature. An android fork without the Marketplace, Maps, Siri like features just seems crippled (Amazon Kindle is an exception). Remember Google sent C&D to Cynogenmod a few months back forbidding them from including any of the apps above? Now think about convincing a handset manufacture to accept the fork or trying to teach a technologically impaired about rooting the phone and installing a fork. It may seem possible but sadly its not practical.
Today I noticed my chrome changed its icon from the wrench to the 3 bars, which atleast for now I find it hideous. However there is no easy way for me to fix it despite chrome being an open-source application (chromium - which I believe is not being actively developed anymore).
You're totally wrong about Chromium; the vast majority of Chrome functionality continues to be implemented in Chromium. You could fix it if you cared enough.
In addition, it's perfectly legal (and easy) to install the Google apps on Cyanogenmod or any other Android ROM yourself, so you're not missing out on anything by running it.
You should probably find some more compelling examples for your argument.
In this specific case, however, that is a highly relevant argument, as none of the mobile-specific parts of Chrome are available: you can't build Chromium for Android. Your snippiness thereby seems somewhat out of place.
Today I noticed my chrome changed its icon from the wrench to the 3 bars, which atleast for now I find it hideous. However there is no easy way for me to fix it despite chrome being an open-source application (chromium - which I believe is not being actively developed anymore).