I was very bummed that Sun forced me to take off the week of 4th of july for the same reason. I wanted to take a week in San Diego at the beach. That's crowded any time in the summer, but after labor day, when school resumes, the weather is actually nicer in early fall (they call it "june gloom" in san diego, coastal fog is still common in early-mid summer), rentals are way easier to get, and hotel prices drop dramatically. Instead, Sun was forcing me to take my beach week at the most expensive and slightly less desirable time of year. And when you only get two weeks at all, that's pretty crappy.
The amazing thing to me is that that simple little policy - which probably makes a lot of sense to executives with kids at these large companies that take the week off anyway - is enough to drive me away to another company. It is definitely more cost effective to just give people more vacation than to be replacing an engineer.
