Its not really useful unless you very obviously know where your search terms lead you otherwise you get nothing.

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I never click on the button itself, because I never visit the Google homepage. However, I constantly use the Firefox functionality that automatically does an "I'm Feeling Lucky" search if you just enter keywords into the address bar. I only use it if I know my keywords are going to result in a direct hit (e.g. "northwest airlines" or "charlie the unicorn"). The "I'm Feeling Lucky" functionality is extremely useful, but using it effectively takes a little bit of nuance.

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LEAVE IT THERE! It's good for people new to computing, it's in plain English, it's "friendly" and encourages people to use search for the first time.

I know this will be a news flash, but Download Squad readers ( myself included ) are a bunch of geeks and only represent are a tiny, fractional minority of the world's computing populous. Let teh n00bs have an easily approachable, first time using search button!

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According to google-watch.org Google handles 200 million searches per day. 1% of that is 2 million searches per day. You think 2 millon searches is nothing? How many uses Download Squads search engine? 2 million? I think not.

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I use it when I open my FireFox as Google is my homepage and it automatically goes to the search box. So I know IF I could be bothered pressing Ctrl+L and typing it out, I could but I'd rather type out, eg 'youtube' do 'I'm feeling lucky' and know it'll go straight there. with saving some time.
So I do use it quite a little. But mainly if i'm using Internet Explorer really

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I use feeling lucky all the time with google toolbar. Just put in what you think you want to go to, and hit [shift]+[enter].

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On the contrary, I'm feeling Lucky is used more than you think. The Firefox URL input uses I'm Feeling Lucky if a URL is not used.

People are using it without realizing they are actually using it. :)

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If they'd like to get rid of it they could just add it to Google preferences (http://www.google.com/preferences) and give users the option to show it or not.

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There used to be a joke site that used that button.
searching for "weapons of mass destruction" and pressing the lucky button went to a page that resembled a 404 error page. Saying 404 error weapons not found etc....

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I'd like to point out that at least with some browsers, if you type your search and *click* the Search button (rather than typing then hitting Enter), Google will actually admonish you with something like "Tip: Search faster by hitting the Enter key instead of clicking the button with your mouse". It happens on my Nokia internet tablet (because there are circumstances where you don't have an "enter" key on that PDA-like device).

There's kind of an irony that they don't want you to use the Search button, but they won't get rid of the I'm Feeling Lucky button.

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What would be accomplished by getting rid of it? Is there an entire department at Google that maintains the I'm Feeling Lucky button that would have to be let go, eliminating thousands of dollars Google has to pay employees?

It's got to be what, two lines of code at max?

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But just think ... what if those 1% really ARE lucky? What if Google has found the luckiest segment of the population, and is satisfying them at moments of supreme good fortune? You'd rob them of that?

And, yeah, as noted above, "I'm feeling lucky" is invaluable in the Firefox address bar. Many, many people I know -- n00b's included -- now know how to finesse one or several keywords to make it successfully hit the page they want. In fact, maybe *adding* functionality -- adding that top hit to other locations -- makes more sense.

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It's a psychological thing; it makes the page more friendly, more inviting than without.

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