>"the web's access pattern would be exponential and overwhelming."
It might well be overwhelming, but it wouldn't be exponential. There are a maximum of N choose 2 connections between N nodes. That number only grows quadratically as N increases, while exponential growth would outstrip quadratic, cubic or any polynomial growth for large values of N.
There's a class of consumer who is technically willing and able to operate their own spider but accepts the lesser convenience of a web search because they recognize it would take down the internet if everyone spidered all the time.
Also surprised the article doesn't mention omnibar search. By defaulting this to G, G is 'abusing' browser dominance to reinforce search dominance.