Adwords Keyword Tool - Is Google Really Going To Close It Or Not? And What do You Think About This?

About a month ago I read that the google adwords keyword tool was going to be closed for the public and you would need to create an adwords account to use it. Sure enough a few days later while I was using the adwords keyword tool a message appeared which demanded that I login to my adwords account to continue using it.

But after a few more days I was no longer required to login to my adwords account for the keyword tool. Now I can use it externally without any problems. What happened? Did they change their minds?

I'm using the adwords keyword tool right now and sure enough, there's a message which claims that it will not be available in the future. Here's the exact message:

"In the coming months, the external Keyword Tool will no longer be available. To get keyword ideas, sign in to your AdWords account and try Keyword Planner."

So apparently they really are closing it down. I just don't understand why they closed and reopened it only to close it down again. Anyway, what do you think about this? I think this is being done to encourage more people to use google adwords, otherwise why would they close the keyword tool for the public?

In my opinion this is a bad move. I think one of the main reasons google became so successful was because it provided excellent services for free. With this and other recent updates it looks to me like google is becoming greedier and more aggressive in its quest to grow larger. It's not uncommon for large companies to do this and its not uncommon for such strategies to backfire.

Thoughts?