This was not the week off that Silicon Valley had planned.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai now leads a workforce divided by the issue of diversity, according to an email he sent to employees cancelling an all-hands meeting on the topic.

"The vast majority of you are very supportive of our decision. A smaller percentage of you wish we would do more. And some are worried that you cannot speak out at work freely," Pichai wrote.

Even that spin sounds optimistic in light of a report that said just over half the company's employees who responded to a survey on an online message board disagreed with Pichai's decision to fire engineer James Damore.

Damore wrote a controversial memo that began with criticism of the company's diversity programs but then veered into sexist remarks that prompted Pichai to send him packing after 3 1/2 years of service.

Pichai cancelled his vacation to call an all-hands meeting to discuss the firing, then cancelled the meeting over concerns that some Google employees, who'd been publicly identified by conservative commentators online, would be abused.

In other words, Pichai retreated -- often not an effective long-term strategy to counter aggression. Some on the right are now calling for "marches" on the company's offices.

And he's far from the only technology industry leader facing a fierce attack.

Two other surprising moves by tech power brokers this week point to an industry that is increasingly at war with itself, as well as external forces.