Aaron Wall... notices that if Google notices duplicate content then it favors the content on Knol over a site that has existed for years and has decent PageRank.
I'm sure that based on these preliminary rumors (dare I call them findings?) every scrap of Creative-Commons-licensed content on the Web is about to be reposted to Knol by hardworking robots. So, in a week or two, we'll have even better data on this.
Google shouldn't be in content business. I'm dismayed that they're following the 'peanut butter' strategy that has been such a destructive influence on Yahoo. If Google gets even more into content side of the business, they'll be in the conflict of interest with all of the ad buyers that are actually driving their business. By trying to generate 'a little bit of revenue' (from the google's perspective) through this, they will lose a lot more from companies that will seek alternatives.
Thanks to my economics education by reading JoelOnSoftware, I am guessing that Google is trying to make content a commodity. Their main business is to be able to search through vast amounts of content, hence the more content there is, the better for Google. So blogger, App Engine and Knol make perfect sense.
This moves reminds me more of Microsoft in the 80s. and then your question becomes, what is it about Microsoft that seems so successful that Google wants to emulate their business model?
Their stock price dictates that they have to continue to grow very fast, and they probably see the end of growth looming ahead (once they hit 100% share).
No mention of the pervasive nepotism at work in knol authorship. It looks like Google employees and family members have been given the first mover advantage for owning many of the lucrative knol topics.
Secondary prediction: the boycott will be about as successful as the Amazon One-Click boycott, or the various attempts to boycott Wikipedia, or all the people who refuse to read the New York Times because it makes you log in.
Guy is amazed you can get 28th on google in no time.
You can get first on Google for obscure terms just by commenting on YC. The site you are on matters, the issue is only whether knol gets special treatment or matters in the normal way.
I'm sure that based on these preliminary rumors (dare I call them findings?) every scrap of Creative-Commons-licensed content on the Web is about to be reposted to Knol by hardworking robots. So, in a week or two, we'll have even better data on this.