if I understood the article, Google only collects info about your habits beyond the search you entered 'if' you use the toolbar...and I don't.

They say that " Many times, after giving you a list of Web sites that match your search, Google will also record which sites you actually visited. "Google may choose to exhibit its search results in the form of a 'URL redirecter,'" reads Google's main privacy policy. "When Google uses a URL redirecter, if you click on a URL from a search result, information about the click is sent to Google."

One of the reasons I use Opera is this section of the Opera privacy features.
"Privacy
Enable referrer logging

It is common practice for Web sites to refer to each other. Many Web sites make a note of which page you came from, and behave accordingly. Whether or not you take issue with this is up to you, but disabling this option will prevent this kind of logging.

Note: Some sites may not work properly if you turn off referrer logging.

'Enable automatic redirection'

Some Web pages redirect you to another site. This is not really a security problem, but can waste your time. Opera therefore allows you to turn this feature off."
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for quick image searches, I have a toolbar button with a dropdown menu that allows me to use Google image search, AlltheWeb image search, or AltaVista image search....and they have VERY different interfaces and result patterns, so I like having all 3 to choose from.

the only point, John, in mentioning all this is that there are very often lots of alternate ways to achieve 'approximately' the same results on a computer, as I'm sure *big grin* you realize. And some tricks are still able to afford a modicum of privacy and independence from Mickey$oft and other's attempts to monitor, direct, control and influence MY life and ultimately, my $$$$.

I am not sure how it will play out in the future, or whether Linux will ever give Windows serious competition, etc...but, for now, I LIKE being able to set my browser to accept cookies, and then have those cookies 'disposed of' as I direct afterwards.

As much as I appreciate Google, I don't care for the implications of using their toolbar....I think that just the fact that it is an IE only application makes me uncomfortable. I suspect that Opera would be able to limit what the toolbar did, and Google simple wont allow that.