I liked it better when the navigation links were bold and on top of the page. I don't know why they thought it would be good to squeeze those links on the left panel now. It isn't like they didn't have space for it. I am sure I would get used to it but I often wonder why corporations mess up good things.
Good things resulted from corporate work are often trashed in time because of poor or lack of interest regarding public oppinion. Still, I can't see what changes you are talking about
Maybe he's talking about the personalized search page. The regular search page hasn't changed except for the Google Checkout link at bottom.