>I have a hard time believing there is a significant percentage of 'normal' people who think Google is a paint point in their daily lives, and good luck to any company who tries to break the "just Google it" habit that we've all developed over the past ~20yrs...
To 'normal' people Google is the synonym for internet search and yea you are right nobody will be breaking the habit of "just Google it" anytime soon.
Google's lack of awareness regarding the power users is astonishing but a change needs to come from within Google not from outside because Google's top management just doesn't care what power users think.
All it takes for Joe User to change is one click to set the browser's default search engine - this is why google pays so much to Mozilla. There is not much that google offers that captures the user besides the trust that they are getting the best search results.
By now, Joe User has developed a healthy distrust/dislike of Facebook, but they stay there due to the network effect. Google has no such snares.
> All it takes for Joe User to change is one click to set the browser's default search engine
I'm pretty sure that takes a bunch of clicks and is confusing.
> this is why google pays so much to Mozilla.
Google pays Mozilla to fend off antitrust.
edit: Could Google disappear in a day? Maybe. People are still Xeroxing things but nobody is using a Xerox. Google have so much cash that they can pour into marketing that people would gradually drift back after any stumble, though. At the least they could get regulation passed that would be too expensive for newcomers to comply with, or that requires that Google be used as a middleman for some processing.
They have their family of apps tied to Google e.g. Gmail, Google Maps, Google Translate, Google News etc. That could be a drawback if you wanted to switch to a new search engine.
To 'normal' people Google is the synonym for internet search and yea you are right nobody will be breaking the habit of "just Google it" anytime soon.
Google's lack of awareness regarding the power users is astonishing but a change needs to come from within Google not from outside because Google's top management just doesn't care what power users think.