I didn't read the Google Cloud part as an assertion of authority, just as a disclosure - if they're talking about competitors (and especially how the choice of competitor negatively impacted GitHub) I appreciate it.
(disclosure - I work for a competitor, not on cloud stuff)
I also appreciate it. Its very common for owners/employees to criticize/attack competitors online anonymously. While the GP wasn't attacking, its just nice to know he works for a competitor.
That wasn’t my intent, quite the opposite actually. I don’t want it to read as “S3 is awfully slow, that’s what the problem was. If they were using GCS then < awesome outcome >”. Knowing that I work at a competing vendor is useful knowledge in this case.
If I know a competitor wrote it, I don't read it as negative. To me, it's a welcome courtesy, but as you say, I couldn't assume it if absent; so I'd probably paint a negative picture of S3 with the same albeit unprefaced sentence.
(Plus, I'm always pleased to see someone not call it a 'disclaimer'!)
Disclosure of Interest should be a common practice across all Industry and web discussions. It provides a lot of additional perspective, most of the places do not adhere to this.
Fortunately HN has kept the culture of disclosure intact.