There have been a few articles recently about how the top searches on all of the search engines are actually navigational. People search for yahoo, ebay, hotmail, etc. rather than typing into the address bar. I have my own theory why this is the case, and it comes down to the simple fact that people are lazy.People already know how to search the web, scan the results, and click the one they want. It works for them every time they do it. Even when they have incomplete information, get some of the details wrong, or throw a typo in there, Google is very forgiving and generally gives people what they want. Compare that against the address bar that requires the exact proper URL syntax to be typed or it gives you an error page. I think it's particularly pathetic that the error message suggests a common typo, yet the browser isn't smart enough to actually check for and correct this typo.
Additionally, the address bar is a second tool. Using it requires making a decision each time of whether to search or whether to type directly in the address bar. Sure the search path is a little bit longer, but it is more forgiving. And since only one tool is ever used (search), there is no cognitive load in selecting which tool to use.
Given all of this, how about a browser setup that only has a search bar in the chrome rather than an address bar? Steal this idea, browser developers!
[Update] Google released their Chrome browser two weeks after I posted this entry. Chrome has a single combined address/search bar. Well done.
my dad does this. it isn't laziness, it is the only way he knows how to find a site.