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Everything you type in Chrome's location bar is sent to Google, most likely unencrypted. Every single character.

If you want to turn this behavior on in Firefox, you can do so with a simple add-on:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/omnibar/

but it's off by default because of the MASSIVE privacy implications.

Just because Chrome does that doesn't mean Firefox must do exactly the same.

Merging location bar and search bar doesn't mean you can't give URL higher priority or that you must query search suggestion every key stroke.

If you just want to search from the address bar without suggestions, you can already do that in Firefox 4. Just type a word and press return.

Well, Firefox basically does that already, then. You can enter search terms in the URL bar and hit Enter to search. If you then hide the search box, you've got what you suggest.

Uh, you do know you can turn that off in chrome? I realize it's the default, but those of us who can switch browsers at the drop of a hat can handle it... I think. :-)

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