londrum - 4:18 pm on Dec 3, 2009 (gmt 0)

maybe i'm a cynic, but i reckon this has got just as much to do with the fact that it will save google a pile of money. if they can convince the web as a whole to reduce page weight by as little as 1/50th, that still saves them a collosal amount of money every time they send the spiders out.
it might save them a packet in storage costs as well, especially when the web is growing at the rate it is.