Google Search Gone in Safari

My computer updated me to Safari 6 without asking. Furthermore, during installation it apparently deleted my VPN configuration!

I want the old version back! I don't want Facebook integration, I want a search bar, activity window, and small tabs.

Apple has disallowed downgrades by (1) not allowing Safari 6 to be deleted and (2) disallowing the installation of 5.1.7 because "a newer version of Safari is installed."

Economic theory tells us that consumers report higher product satisfaction when they can configure the product to satisfy their preferences. A one-size-fits-all approach guarantees three-out-of-five star reviews and will cause dissatisfied users to seek an alternative. Apple's "we know better" approach is paternalistic or maybe just plain fascistic.

Me, I'm kicking the Safari icon off the dock and going back to Firefox.

Let me be simple.

ME WANT GOOGLE WINDOW BACK!

Thank you

Just after posting above I had a thought. I hit CTRL-T for a new tab and typed a search into the window that the addresses usually go in. It did a google search from there. So maybe it's not really gone it's just hiding.

I have talked with three friends at the gym about this and they all are going back to Firefox!!! I guess I'll have to follow along if Apple is not going to change it back. One benefit of Firefox was that when you highlight a word or topic, right click, and you choose "search in google" it open a new tab to search, which I like because a lot of times I wanted to keep the source page that I was looking at. Safari never did this and always searched in the same page, so you lost what you were originally looking at. Maybe Apple's ignorance is ultimately a good thing for me....

I've done some checking, and it appears that even Firefox is going to go down this route in a future update.

It seems that the major browsers are determined to force users to do things the way they want. Consumer choice goes out the window.

In hopes that Apple reads our feedback:

One of the greatest usability features that millions fell in love with about the old Safari was the functionality and convenience of separate address and Google search bars. That feature is now gone. It was the only fast and effective way to retain visibility of a URL that a user may need to refer while simultaneously typing new info into the separate Google search bar.

In fact, Apple's innovation about that specific feature is the reason I've remained loyal to Safari for so long—because it did what millions needed, and it did so before other browsers jumped on the bandwagon.

Now, if, for example, you start typing in a new search and then change your mind, your old URL disappears. If you need to see it again, you can only get it back by looking at big old jumbled list that pulls up and hope you re-select the correct one. Previously, if you started to type in the search bar and then changed your mind, you didn't need to re-find your old URL because it never went away in the first place. What a handy function!

Could you please bring that back? There are very few things I've seen Apple swing and miss on. So few, that I've never felt the need to log on here to ask you to change anything—ever—until now. And I have been using Apple computers for 15 years, long before my friends and co-workers. In fact, I spent a lot of time telling my friends why they should switch; every friend who took my advice, came back to me and said, "I love my new Mac."

I want to keep telling people how great Mac is. Apple, would you like to help me do that by restoring one of your most efficient, coolest functions?

I hope people keep posting how annoyed they are. I too spent a lot of time trying to get the little box back thinking I'd hit the wrong button by mistake. Realized reading these posts that it disappeared just after I updated my software. BUMMER.

Hear hear!

I'm in the same boat as the rest of you. If people want the omnibar, they can use a different browser. Apple says "Think Different" yet their browser is just like other browsers with omnibars. I wonder how many developers wrote to Apple during testing to say they wanted a search bar.

Greetings. Just to add to the general noise: I also want my extra google search window back. It makes for good research, by keeping the original search idea tethered while opening up multiple tabs. Note to APPLE: this is essential for productive, varied, multi-task searching! This is basically what I need the internet FOR. Your new Facebook-ready-streamlining-tweetable "smart" Safari actually dumbs down your product. I want a good search, good security, good design, and some ability to customize according to my needs.

I talked to APPLE help and, for what it is worth, and they said if enough people complain "maybe they will make an update" that addresses this...

I want tools, I don't want to BE a tool.

Seems like a long shot, doesn't it?!

Mooglitz, good response to the no search field in Safari. I'm with you on this. I have to think that there are a lot of smart people that use Macs. Doesn't seem right to dumb down a product that has been doing so well. I have to ask here, are there any browsers out there that still have a separate search bar? I don't want to switch browsers but one has to do what one has to do until Apple comes up with a fix.

Firefox still has separate search bar, but from what people are saying in this posting, they will eventually update to a uni-bar too. I am switching... and not updating.

this is whacked... a long list of why the heck did you even change that is starting to crop up now... this has irked me the most... they are teeny tiny little things but they make a big difference. and its more the fact that we get NO choice... we cant change it back?? the dock was almost as annoying as this... seriously need to remove"apple apps" from the dock a different way than the rest? ugh some silly changes in this update i must say.

Nooooo How can I live without Google window! Sooo dissapointed!

iCab can be configured with a separate search bar, plus the address bar can be used for searches as well. User choice.

http://www.icab.de/