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The relevant question isn't whether it is "breaking things" in the abstract, but whether it is breaking things in a way meaningfully detrimental to end users. Or, if you really want to stretch it, perhaps also include externalities imposed on the "internet as a whole."

In the era before the omnibox, I personally can't see much in the way of "breaking things" on account of OpenDNS. Doesn't mean you and others can't disagree with that, but it's not as cut and dried as your statement seems to imply.

For something that's as fundamental to the internet as DNS, good luck measuring the meaningful detriment to your end users.

Agreed, I've run into this behaviour several times and it is confusing and annoying, especially while programming. A DNS response for a non-existent domain shouldn't be "this page full of adverts", it should be "this domain doesn't exist".

Isn't NXDOMAIN behavior only required for authoritative nameservers?