Correct. That's only become particularly relevant in the past few years, though. Sure, they retired projects before, but they are becoming increasingly ambitious with the retirements. By that I mean they are retiring things that lots of people still use (Reader), were not released that long beforehand (Helpouts), could be viable businesses with modifications (Wallet for Digital Goods), or contain large quantities of valuable content (Code).

My point is that Code has been running for quite a while, and at one stage it probably did look like the safest way to keep a project online. Can't blame people for choosing it earlier on.