[Dylan16807]

This removes a step for someone that would have searched for google and then clicked on the link and then done their real search, so overall it sounds like a nice improvement in the vast majority of cases. I don't expect many people that care about the difference between search engines to be using this method.

[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

They're not actually making a google search if they use that search field. Microsoft is just presenting another Bing search field when people search "google" and showing that at the top of the page instead of the link they are ostensibly looking for.

[Dylan16807]

And what fraction of the people this affects do you think care about the difference?

What fraction even know the difference?

My guesses are not very big.

[ClassyJacket]

If they didn't care about the difference they obviously wouldn't have searched for Google in the first place

[recursive]

Not obvious to me. People that search for Google probably don't have a solid grasp on what the difference is between Google and a search engine. Perhaps it's muscle memory.