[mindcrime]

That seems like a very narrow and reductionist view. Sure you still can create search plugins for both FF and Chrome. But that isn't the (entire) point. OpenSearch is a well-known, proven, battle-tested open standard... exactly the kind of thing we need the Open Web to be built around. And doing anything that impedes whatever momentum OpenSearch has, seems like a loss to me in a very general sense.

I lump this in with the kinds of decisions like removing RSS support from browsers, browsers (hello Chrome) not supporting MathML[1], and a zillion other "death by a thousand cuts" things that impede the Open Web.

[1]: Yes, I know that there is an initiative underway to re-add MathML support to Chrome. I'll remain somewhat skeptical until it is actually shipping and works.