Am I the only one who's noticed how many times clicking on the Google cache now returns nothing but a long ID string and a note that there's nothing in the cache on that topic?
I think this is an abominable change – on some pages, up to 30 percent of my results have come back with dead cache links.
I really rely on the cache – or used to. The absence of it is making me rely on Google less, as well.
Anyone have an idea why this is happening?

I have noticed the same and it has been going on for several months now. I use the cached pages because it highlights the keywords in different colors, making it easier to find what I'm looking for. Recently that strategy has become less reliable on Google. In fact MSN is now my first choice of search engine even if doesn't highlight the keywords on cached pages. MSN has nearly as many indexed pages now, and I find the results are often more relevant. I've been trying out the Opera 9 beta version which highlights ALL keywords when you use the "Find" feature.