Take away all your understanding of search and the way the web works. Sit down in front of your computer and open IE (or AOL). What page loaded? That's where you search from. Through the years running my little PC repair biz I've come to realize that most users search from whatever the home page on IE is set to. Maybe they hit Google every so often cause it's "in" , but for the most part when they search they just use whatever page loads with IE. Heck, you wouldn't believe how many people I come across that don't even know how to change their default home page. My main question - do you think the "average" user understands or even cares about the benefits of one SE vs. another? Maybe Google should make an OS & browser, LOL.
If the Mozilla browser--"Firefox" now--ever gets any nontrivial market share, that could change. I really have no idea what IE looks like: I've never had a M$ product in the house, and never will. I run OS/2 and long used Netscape, then Mozilla, and now Firefox (which is Mozilla with the mail/news extracted to a separate program, Thunderbird). In the upper right of my screen, right next to the URL bar, is a direct-entry search box: type in terms, hit <Return>, and it searches. I no longer recall if it defaults to Google or if I set my preferences to that long ago (but I think defaults), but there's a Google {G} logo in the box, along with a clearly visible drop-down arrow, which, when clicked, gives immediate opportunity to add other engines (The click takes one to the Mozilla site, whence you can download an "extension" for the wanted engine or engines, which includes things like Wikipedia and Amazon, as well as The Usual Suspects).. Firefox, by the way, which is open-source, is a pretty sweet piece of work, even at Release 0.8, and is available (free) for virtually all platforms. Check out the Mozilla site.
Mozilla is good but Safari is quicker - not all the world is on a PC and like others its been along time since I used IE I think there is a move toward using other Browsers by people as I see greater usage in the stats but it is pretty tiny
I fully agree (and just check their favorites - long as a bowling alley). Looking at it from a mainstream e-commerce standpoint and in answer to the question is NO. Simply because it's an extra step and providers are very clever in manipulating joe p into beliving their homepage is mandatory. Yes, they are aware of G or Y but there is a search box on their homepage so this is where they type in the request. Only if that brings up total rubbish will they remember respectively can they be bothered to type in g.c or y.c G is a great source of information fast and relatively accurate but it shows a more or less blank screen. This requires the user to be proactive and taking the initative, which is not given to anyone. I love it and a lot of people love it, but there is a huge crowd that book animation clubs for their holiday and somehow I don't think these people sit in front of a blank screen. I live in a relatively small village and get called upon from neighbours - it's an eye opener. M
I have noticed over the years that most people DONT HAVE A CLUE WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND DONT CARE.... I am amazed how many people i hear @ restaurant drive thru's order the wrong soda!! (They are totally unaware of what soda the place has,its quite sad really) I mostly goto google and if i cant find it there i goto yahoo...... My ISP created thier own search page for invalid URLs entered in address bar ... I opted out of that straight away!! (Im actually surprised they had an option to opt out)