Yeah, things definitely changed at SJC in the last month or so. My flight into SJC from SNA, landing shortly after 8am arrived at gate 12 and it was a really long walk to the rental car area. Multiple empty gates as I walked down all of B. This was the end of August. Then on 9/7, my 3:15pm flight back to SNA went out of gate 12. Again, many empty gates in B. The only good thing about that is that I usually spend time at the Club @ SJC before the flight out, so it's a pretty short walk from there to 12 (shorter than walking back to my usual 22'ish gate).
Edit:
Forgot to add that walking from 12 in the morning gave me the opportunity to meet possibly the rudest person I've ever met. While walking thru a particularly thin area my bag clipped the bag of someone going the other way. It was enough that it knocked my bag handle out of my hand and it fell to the ground. When I turned around to pick it up, he looked at me and said "Excuse you". I just stood there dumbfounded. I was so shocked I couldn't even come up with a good retort. Others around heard the exchange and stood there with mouth agape as well. Great start to my day