Personally I don't think so. But this (very) short article gives another insight on the matter. Quite an interesting read. http://www.searchenginejournal.com/?p=3339 Notting
It's a stretch of credulity to suggest that a website's business is damaged because Google uses the actual business name as the website title, instead of a string that includes the business name plus a bunch of self-promotional keywords. Apparently this guy wants to improve his rankings for terms like "quality web hosting" and "best web host," and he figures that Google owes it to him to include those words in the listed site title. If that's his objective, he should change his official business name to "V7 Quality Web Hosting - Voted Best Host of the Year." Presumably he hasn't done that because it would look unprofessional -- but he figures he has the right to complain because Google and DMOZ don't want their search results and directory listings to look unprofessional.
Orlady, Google does display "V7 Quality Web Hosting - Voted Best Host of the Year" http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=v7inc&btnG=Google+Search I tend to think it's more descriptive and better usability-wise for Google. I mean, "V7 Inc" doesn't say much. Cheers
John - I've seen no evidence that the way Google choses to present results has any effect on ranking. These are two separate issues. I can understand that you saw a connection. When two things happen at roughly the same time (or seem to do so), we naturally assume cause and effect. But is it? Google seems to be in the middle of some sort of upheaval which is affecting a lot of sites. That could explain the ranking change. As for the use of ODP titles - that's not new at all. See http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050406-121423 . But it happens on and off. Those who have been watching closely say that it depends on various factors including the search terms used. As you have just demonstrated, Google is using your own meta title for some searches at least.