Google aims to kill Wikipedia with its latest product, Knol

As you've come to expect from the search giant, Google's the new Wikipedia-style site, Knol, has launched with a 'beta' moniker. While Google won't admit it, their new site, called Knol (http://knol.google.com), is designed to be a Wikipedia killer.

Google says Knol has one aim - to 'help you share what you know'. According to Google, a Knol (not to be confused with a 'Knole' which is a sofa with adjustable sides) is a 'unit of knowledge', and the Knol site is designed to be a central repository for many Knols.

Anybody can author their own Knol, and Google encourages collaboration between authors, but also allows you to mark your Knol as read-only. If you're interested, Google have provided an extensive Help page that outlines best practices in writing and managing your Knols.

Because Knol has just launched it doesn't have anywhere near the depth that Wikipedia does, but it also approaches the Wiki concept from a slightly different angle - it encourages users to collaborate, but gives very granular controls over collaboration. For instance, when you create your Knol you can choose one of three different collaboration modes: open collaboration (where all signed in users can edit your Knol), moderated collaboration (users can suggest edits to your knol, but these need to be approved by you before publishing) and closed collaboration mode (where only owners and authors can edit the knol).

You've also got the ability to select different licensing models for your content including Creative Commons (both commercial and noncommercial) and all rights reserved. Any content on Wikipedia, on the other hand is covered under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), where contributions remain the property of their creations but subscribe to the GFDL which means the content is freely distributable and reproducible.

Google is giving Knol authors the option of showing ads and earning income from their Knols. This is the most significant difference to Wikipedia, which doesn't allow advertising at all. It's also likely the biggest driver to get people to start contributing to Knol.

As well as advertising, you can expect your Knol to be searchable on Google, though it's not clear whether Google will preferentially display Knol content (Google say they won't) before Wikipedia content. If they do, you can bet Knol will quickly catch on.

Creating a Knol is easy - if you've already got a Google account all you need to do is click the 'Write a Knol' button and start adding information. The interface is much cleaner and more accessible than Wikipedia's and uses a familiar WYSIWYG style editor, rather than the arcane Wiki markup required for writing Wikipedia entries. Preferences for sharing and adding advertisements are also easy to find.

Because Knol is just new, the discussion is only beginning. A good analysis of the potential of Knol, and the threats it poses to Wikiepedia and other free web based encyclopedias are, ironically, discussed in a Wikipedia article here.

What do you think? Will Knol kill Wikipedia?