Google has got Knol, its answer to Wiki and About.com, out of beta last wednesday. They claim the feature that takes home win against others is Authorship. An author is stated against each Knol, which can have multiple authors. Other features include rating of knols, featuring of best-rated knols on homepage, etc. etc. Many exist that can be explored with a Knol account.
It supports three licensing for knols.
- Creative Common Attribution 3.0 License
- Creative Common Attribution Non-commercial 3.0 License
- All rights reserved
Now this is interesting - Wiki on Knol.
There exists a community on Knol for exploring, discussing, learning and taking advantage of Knol, Googles' Open Encylopedia. It is http://knolstuff.com/
Past: This was the post made at TechCrunch in December regarding its conceputalization.
Naams may like 'other knols by this author' feature, which I remember he seemed to miss in Community on Orkut (as other posts by this user).
Yeah...
ReplyDeleteAlthough there is plenty of writing already on comparing it with Wiki, my first thoughts..
Why is Google doing more of the same good things that others are doing or acquiring others that are doing well ? Whither it's nerve for path-breaker innovation ?
While Wiki's Neutrality has got its merits and demerits, Google, instead of aligning towards achieving better authenticity of content, is relying on the authority of "opinions" of individuals, although from respectable professionals, if the natural upcreaming of top-rated content happens.
One good thing... Google wants to stay out of editing. Bad thing.... Now, it's left to the mob, sans the wiki-style overseeing. Sad thing... the authenticity, or closeness to truth, if not at the level of 'primary sources', atleast at the textbook level.... is still kept wanting....
Not that the content wont be true, but how do you know thats the truth ?
Wonder, what would the Knol have to say on, say, Ram Sethu ? :) :)
As usual, Google has taken care of the Ads and the Money part quite well. The project will surely have the Blessings of Goddess Lakshmi.... but whether it will have the Blessings of Goddess Saraswathi or lament in perpetual beta is something which we have to wait and see...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/146101-5/top_10_google_flubs_flops_and_failures.html
I will try to asses the query, 'Why is Google doing more of the same good things that others are doing or acquiring others that are doing well ?'
ReplyDeleteGoogle is no more a company working on developing yet another set of Web applications, Google is now a way of life on Web.
Web-Search: It existed even before Google plunged into this Web World (Microsoft, Yahoo). But now it leads Search on Web.
Stats: In November 2007, Googles' share in search in US alone was 64%, Yahoo 21.7% and Microsoft a mere 7.4%.
According to comScore's survey, Google's share of Internet searches rose 1.8 percent from March to April 2008, from 59.8 percent in March 2008 to 61.6 percent. Yahoo saw its share decline 0.9 percent, from 21.3 percent to 20.4 percent of searches. Microscoft went down to 9.1 percent of searches in April from 9.4 percent in March.
Source:http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2008/05/19/daily59.html & http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/126252.asp
Mail: Hotmail, YahooMail, RediffMail existed even before GMail came into existence. Yet Google brought its version of Mail and we know, how it has swept the globe. The kind of features that GMail gives, shocked these companies. They are yet not able to catch up with it.
SketchUp: 3D Modeling. Multiple softwares exist yet it is moving on its way to lead in its area.
GDocs: Though online Spreadsheets, Documents existed, GDocs is another trend setting feature. When Microsoft announced its annual subscription on Microsoft Office, people were wondering where it was going to lead Microsoft since GDocs might over-take it quite easily with comprehensive, ever & fast-improving feature additions and free application.
List can go on and on. Apart, there have been failures too from Google. But, atleast it has tried to live upto the expectations of its users.
Multiple products existed much earlier to Google coming into market, yet now they exist - the Google-way. There is a difference, and thats what makes it a leader. Top five brand rankings for year 2008: Google, GE, Microsoft, Coco-cola, and China Mobile (in order). Source: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080422-google-tops-brand-ranking-for-second-year-in-a-row.html
Another way of saying might be, it is redefining the culture on web, and it is good as long as it is good! :)