Google Develops Wikipedia Rival

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According to this article, Google has developed an online publishing platform where people can add entries on subjects they are familiar with...kinda like Wikipedia.

The project, which is in an invitation-only beta stage, lets users create clean-looking Web pages with their photo and write entries on, for example, insomnia. Those entries are called "knols" for "unit of knowledge," Google said.
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I don't think Google will succeed. Wikipedia is too far down the road of success. It has everything we need already and we know how it works, and you can go up to any stranger anywhere and mention "Wikipedia" and they'll likely know what you're talking about.
 
Azhar said:
I don't think Google will succeed. Wikipedia is too far down the road of success. It has everything we need already and we know how it works, and you can go up to any stranger anywhere and mention "Wikipedia" and they'll likely know what you're talking about.
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But then again, Hotmail and Yahoo mail was in full gear before Gmail came around, and look at how popular Gmail is.

I guess it depends on how well Google implement it.
 
The only thing I want wikipedia to have is a better search feature, the one it has now is ok, but not up to par.
 
If they cite their sources then it could be greater Wikipedia.
 
I read a while back that Wikimedia was trying to get into the search engine game as well.

I think the Wiki folks are really going to try and go to the mat with Google eventually. It's like a nerd cage match or something. :D Good stuff. I like fierce competition from two very good companies.
 
RoBo said:
If they cite their sources then it could be greater Wikipedia.
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Have you messed with Google Books any? It's pretty amazing, though it does serve a more specifically narrow scholarly demographic. I found some amazing first hand sources whose copyrights had expired for a history class on Google Books.

Now, if they can merge that with solid user created content of Wikipedia scale, that'd really be something.
 
Knowing Google, their product will be ok but won't do that greatly so they'll just buy Wikipedia instead. (Same as YouTube and Google Video)
 
enlightenedby42 said:
I think the Wiki folks are really going to try and go to the mat with Google eventually. It's like a nerd cage match or something. :D Good stuff. I like fierce competition from two very good companies.
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They're both good companies, but Wikimedia and Google are in completely different leagues. They can't even make a decent search engine for their sites. I'd say it's pretty likely that Google will produce a clean, fast product that integrates seamlessly with their other tools, and Wikipedia will be crushed solely on the fact that you still get what you're looking for when you don't know how to spell the word.
 
I don't think Google will succeed, mainly due to their approach.

They want to give more emphasis to "who wrote the entry", but imho Google are missing one of the points about the power of crowd sourcing.

There is a lot of popularity (and e-penis) contests going at Wikipedia but those are the minority.
 
Cougar.pt said:
I don't think Google will succeed, mainly due to their approach.

They want to give more emphasis to "who wrote the entry", but imho Google are missing one of the points about the power of crowd sourcing...
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If I understand it correctly, Google's implementation may encourage more actual experts to make entries. I gave up on wikipedia a few years ago when I added a bit to their Adenoviridae entry (yes, I have a Ph.D. in virology and my specialty is in fact adenovirus research) and my addition was rather quickly replaced with mis-information. Crowd-sourcing sucks when your crowd contains a high percentage of idiots.
 
I just want GOS that's based on Linux like OS X that will wipe out OSX and Windows.
 
Wikipedia and Google is like Linux and Microsoft. Two similar projects, but with drastically different goals.
 
Azhar said:
But then again, Hotmail and Yahoo mail was in full gear before Gmail came around, and look at how popular Gmail is.

I guess it depends on how well Google implement it.
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The problem with hotmail and yahoo mail was that it left a LOT to be desired while wikipedia, I don't think google will do anything better than what wikipedia has. I'm not saying you can't improve wikipedia, I'm just saying I doubt google has a better idea of what to do since wikipedia is already very good.
 
True, but think of how easy it will be to outrank them? All the number one search engine has to do is list themselves as a source of information with Wikipedia beneath them, or even on page 2. A lame tactic, but could work. Hell, they could do what so many sites do and have a generic "Find X in Googlepedia..." link, even if it wasn't filled out yet. Right at the top of course.
 
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