They have had a complete change in leadership over the last few years, have a young leader and the old hardcore of extremely pious leaders have been chucked out, along with the religious police etc.
Saudi has a very young population and there is huge demand for change or fear what's happened elsewhere like the Arab spring.
The changes recently have been immense and the country feel massively different these days with people very optimistic about the future for the first time in decades.
Yes, still a very long way to go but they deserve credit for what has been achieved so far and the desire to keep going. Your quite welcome to your own opinions, all I can comment on is what I see everyday.