I'm probably from a younger generation, because as long as I have been around google has never felt like a choice for me. Instead, it was always the default or mandated by the organization I am a part of (university, other web services...). It's kinda a fight to get out of the google grasp.

Hearing you (and I guess the article towards the end) talk about google as not a monstrosity gives me hope that maybe other companies can push through and usurp google's "defaultness". It'd also be great if it was not another giant like microsoft giving competition.

I'd love to be able to a make a non-google choice and not feel like an outsider.