Indeed there are likely many good reasons for making the url bar become a search bar under certain circumstances
(I would bet the money google pays mozilla for these kinds defaults was actually touted as 'make things better for the users' )
and it certainly can make things better in some ways, and likely for a majority of people.
I for one however was appalled the first time I found not typing my url properly sent that data to google to find a suitable alternative.
(also disturbed when I see cell phone carrier give me a "you may be looking this-and-that list of links when a 404 or similar is detected - helpful maybe, doing it for the monetization? probably. Stealing privacy at the same time? Maybe.
Providing a curated version of available resources? Yes.
That is often censoring more and more these days. Google does not provide the internet options to end users that it did 7 years ago.
I have seen people go to the url bar type "google" and hit enter - which on many browsers default searches google for google.
Whatever the reasoning for these issues, the result seems to be that most people think they need to use google to get to parts of the internet and don't know any other way.
and it certainly can make things better in some ways, and likely for a majority of people.
I for one however was appalled the first time I found not typing my url properly sent that data to google to find a suitable alternative.
(also disturbed when I see cell phone carrier give me a "you may be looking this-and-that list of links when a 404 or similar is detected - helpful maybe, doing it for the monetization? probably. Stealing privacy at the same time? Maybe.
Providing a curated version of available resources? Yes. That is often censoring more and more these days. Google does not provide the internet options to end users that it did 7 years ago.
I have seen people go to the url bar type "google" and hit enter - which on many browsers default searches google for google.
Whatever the reasoning for these issues, the result seems to be that most people think they need to use google to get to parts of the internet and don't know any other way.