[mvgoogler]

Well sure - the exact example I used is an edge case :-)

But I think the general case of searching for something that I either own or that was shared with me is not really that uncommon. I think it's only uncommon on Google today, because - until now at least - Google could only search the public web for you.

The way I think of it is this: When the web started out, the amount of stuff was small and it was possible to keep track of the site you needed to know about. Then the web grew and people tried to manually organize it (ala early Yahoo). Then the web grew more and search became the best way to find something.

The same kind of thing happened with personal computers. In the early days there was limited storage and a single folder worked fine. Then storage got cheaper and hierarchical directories were added and that worked for a while. Now there tends to be so much stuff on your computer that it is often easier and faster to just search for it.

I think the same thing is happening on the web. As the amount of stuff we have on the web grows - especially stuff that is private or shared with a select group of people - the need to effectively search it will grow.