If you support a larger / older user base you'd understand immediately what they are trying to deal with.

microsoft.scamsite.com amazon.scamsite.com

would turn into scamsite.com

that said users click on stuff pretty easily so not surprised it didn't move metrics that much.

Or, worse, "amazon.com.contact-support.something-else-to-confuse-the-user.shadytld". Even with the path part of URLs dimmed, users are really bad at identifying the authoritative part of a hostname.

Users are bad at it because English is ordered left to right. The path also is. The domain is right to left. It was designed by morons.

Ironically the opposite order predates the current standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_domain_name_notation#H...

It bugs me that the normal notation is called "reverse notation". :D

No question - outlook users struggle here particularly especially if bit behind a Google class filter for email etc (legacy email)

It seems that they were combating phishing sites. A comment from the field trial's code:

  // Hostnames using sensitive keywords (typically, brandnames) are often social
  // engineering, and thus should only show the registrable domain.

I suppose this implies that the average non-technical user pays no attention to the contents of the address bar? Perhaps for Google to improve security metrics maybe the user needs a new canonical UI element indicating what site they're on, since to most people the address bar is just computer noise.

Sounds to me like they see their users as idiots.

They are sheep to be gently herded and monetised.

Google's primary business is advertising. Regardless of what propaganda it spreads, the ultimate motivation of making a browser is to make more money for itself. Almost all the changes that it has done make perfect sense in that context.