For me at least, it wasn't that either. It was the quality of the results.
I would have put up with slow bloated adware Google results of early 2000s, compared to fast minimal sleek interface with results of Yahoo/Altavista/anything else I tried.
The results were good. I remember admitting that for many things I really could have used 'I'm Feeling Lucky' and bypass the SERP entirely, but I disliked relinquishing that much control, so I never made a habit of it. Today I don't think I could trust it much of the time.
I'm not sure what you are unclear about, but yes I was re-emphasizing my point for you.
There were lots of "differentiators" that did not really matter, including speed. The differentiator was result quality, not how or when they were presented.
I would have put up with slow bloated adware Google results of early 2000s, compared to fast minimal sleek interface with results of Yahoo/Altavista/anything else I tried.