Disable the address bar from searching.
Since I got my first computer in the 1980s the centered search bar has been the window for searching. It sits at a comfortable height for my eyes and is not surrounded by… (read more)
Since I got my first computer in the 1980s the centered search bar has been the window for searching. It sits at a comfortable height for my eyes and is not surrounded by visual clutter. Since the address bar first appeared as an alternative for searching I have consistently disabled or overridden it. It is bad visual design; it is visually inconvenient, and to many of us who have used consumers for decades, it is not how a computer screen should look.
Now comes the newest version, which locks users into one way of doing things. Well, Newsflash: A lot of us want the freedom to use an operating system that responds to us, not vice-versa.
I think you are not making a lot of friends with this version. Rather than trying to spin it as something great, which it isn't, why not admit it's a problem, and rewrite it to make it more useful to everyone?