'Additionally, the "people who know what Markdown is but also like trusting Google with their files" demographic is vanishingly small and not who Drive is targeting at all.' <--this 200%
It's just not true at all. Knowing/using markdown doesn't make you some Richard Stallmann type.
Maybe the original author implies that you don't need to be a Richard Stallman type anymore, not to trust Google.
HN/Reddit is a bit of a bubble. Most people trust Google just fine with their files.
People who think Markdown users are a demographic major enough to matter in the context of the Google Drive userbase are also in a bit of a bubble...
Yep.
I agree with this. Most people have know idea what markdown is, and if they do use it, it is usually the text format behind a WYSIWYG editor... Some examples: Slack, Github...