True. I think the other person mixed that up with the paid links, that you get next to the search results. These you can buy.
Actually, it can. It's not important for the definition of a monopoly, if people are forced by external, unintentional circumstances to use a certain product (like it is the case with Windows or Office).
In several major countries Google has >90% market share. Their global dominance is so strong they coined a verb of their own, and if you ask any random person in any random place on earth, chances are they know and use Google every day and haven't heard of other search engines.
Also don't forget that Google doesn't just have a monopoly among users but also among ad space sellers. In that respect their stranglehold is as strong as Microsoft's. Most companies are forced to buy Google ads if they want to get noticed, just because Google is so ubiquitous.
You are right, users could switch to another search engine with a simple mouse click, but chances are they won't. Most people wouldn't even notice worse or biased results, because for them Google results ARE the internet. They would never even suspect wrongdoing.
Just look how long it took other, far better browsers to overtake IE. People are lazy.
Yeah, very valid point
I dont know though, I just dont see anyone wanting to try and start regulating search engines. For one thing it opens up a whole can of worms as to who would do it. Nobody owns the internet, so it would mean that each country would need to regulate it, which effectively ends up being the great firewall of China if you aren't careful. I dont think Google would ever risk something like this, so tend to not mess with search, it runs smoothly and gives fair and accurate results. As long as it keeps doing that, I dont think we really need anyone stepping in. Hopefully we never will.