In Google's ongoing attempt to take over the world, they want to try to outdo Wikipedia, sort of.

From SlashDot:

Google appears to be reinventing Wikipedia with their new product that they call knol (not yet publicly available). In an attempt to gather human knowledge, Google will accept articles from users who will be credited with the article by name. If they want, they can allow ads to appear alongside the content and they will be getting a share of the profits if that's the case. Other users will be allowed to rate, edit or comment on the articles. The content does not have to be exclusive to Google but no mention is made on any license for it. Is this a better model for free information gathering?

But is this really a viable alternative to Wikipedia? A sole expert writes an article that others comment on, and that sole author makes edits at their discretion. As a commenter on SlashDot pointed out, it sounds like About.com, which does not sound anything like a viable alternative to Wikipedia.

Lame.