The spotlightesque search box in the menu/title bar is unnecessary, makes the already cramped menu title even more cramped, and displaces other tools. It should at the very least be optional. Also, since there's a search button in the button bar, it means that the same function is partially replicated in widely separate portions of the screen. If you really need to hilight search this much, a better model, I think, would be to follow the precedent of web browsers: add the search icon next to the chat bar, and click on the icon to search on the text in the chat bar. I suggest a shared input area to avoid taking up more space than necessary (the search icon itself is small) and unlike browsers the input area isn't busy with an "address" that you would need to preserve. This really isn't a conflict: for extended "searching while chatting" you would have the search window open anyway and would type your searches there. Update: In response to the argument that it would cause more clutter in the chat area... if you don't want to add clutter with this entry, then leave it off. It adds clutter wherever it is, and the menu/title bar has less room to waste on clutter than anywhere else on the screen, and the search function already has a nice big obvious button that's always on the screen right in the area where your attention is focussed. Update: Take note of new subject line, and see links for related issues, including the UI this feature replaced and the new-search meta-issue.