Attempts to improve the internet as a whole may not directly benefit Google, but as an internet company, they will almost certainly indirectly benefit them. A rising tide lifts all boats.

Oh I agree - that's what I meant by "no direct benefit" to them. They explicitly have stated that they want to improve the internet because a better internet is good for them. I'm just saying it's inaccurate to assume they're starting a service for direct monetization and information collection.

And what is wrong with that? Google is doing something that will benefit everyone, not just them? They are going about this the correct way (ahm, no ad redirects). This is akin us blaming Red Hat for releasing more patches to the Linux kernel because it helps them sell their product: they will eventually benefit from this in some way but so do we. The only loser in this case is OpenDNS, who just got the rug pulled from under them.