I tought that too. At least it would explain why i think all recent updates (except bug fixes) are bad. You can justify every reaction of the community with that.
A lot of the disapproval would be eliminated if he actually consulted with and listened to the community first, e.g. polls, uservoices.
Basically he has a free focus group for testing out ideas, but ignores it. Granted, it's a focus group of enthusiasts instead of newbies, but he can't build a business on newbies alone.