You make a good point.

I think the answer is that the operating system is open, but there's (currently) nothing restricting hardware vendors from making their hardware not open. In other arenas, I'd tell you that it's your own fault for purchasing restricted hardware, but that's obviously a much more contentious position with a cell phone. You don't have innumerable choices like you do with a PC.

The search in stock Android is extensible, with plugins available for it, from Wikipedia, to calculators, to other search engines. If Verizon has crippled the browser, that really sucks. The only thing you can do is not buy it.