Giving a perfect competitor to encyclopedia Wikipedia, Google opened its website Knol (knol.google.com) to the public on last Wednesday. Unlike Wikipedia, where those who write remain anonymous, Knol allows people to write with their bylines. "We are deeply convinced that authorship, knowing who wrote what, helps readers trust the content." said Cedric DuPont, product manager for Knol.

New York Times reports that Google's Knol - its term for a unit of knowledge - is a collection of user-generated articles on specific topics. Google said that the aim of the free service is to 'help people share their knowledge'. The company would not serve as an editor in any way or bless the content, instead, it would leave editorial responsibilities up to the author. But it will rank the entries according to its popularity to encourage competition.

It also plans to reward authors of popular posts by enabling them to profit from their entries, if they allow Google to place advertisements on their pages. The contributor can earn as per the number of page views the article gets.

Knol is considered as an attempt to boost the company's online advertising income by attracting some of the millions who use Wikipedia, which is non-profit and advertising-free.

Dupont denied Knol was designed as a 'Wikipedia killer', saying, "Google is very happy with Wikipedia being so successful. Anyone who tries to kill them would hurt us."

The highlighted knols on the site's front page were mainly related to health issues such as migraines or irritable bowel syndrome. Knol is widely perceived as a shift in Google's identity of 'organizing the world's information' to 'creating and publishing information' that could potentially compromise its neutrality in organizing search results.

Can/Will Google give a real competition to Wikipedia? We will have to wait and watch!!

NoeL

Guys!

I stumbled upon this article somewhere in the internet. I find it really interesting. So sharing it with you here. :)


Year : 2050

Place : IBM , USA
(Two Americans Talking)

Currency Conversion Rate : 1INR = 100USD

Alex: Hi John, you didn't come yesterday to office?

John: Yeah, I was in Indian Embassy for stamping.

Alex: Oh really, what happened, I heard that nowadays it has become very strict.

John: Yeah, but I managed to get it.

Alex: How long it took to get it stamped?

John: Oh, it was nasty man, long queue. Bill Gates was standing in front of me and they played with him like anything. That's why it got delayed. I went there at 2 AM itself and waited and returned by 4 PM.

Alex: Really? In India , it is a matter of an hour to get stamped for USA.

John: Yeah, but that is because who in India will be interested in coming to USA man, their economy has been booming.

Alex: So, when are you leaving?

John: Anytime, after receiving my tickets from the client in India and you know, I will be getting a chance to fly Air-India. Sort of dream come true.

Alex: How long are you going to stay in India .

John: What do you mean by how long? I will be settled in India , my company has promised me that they will process my Hara Patta... (green card) .

Alex: Really, lucky person man, it is very difficult to get a Hara Patta in India .

John: Yeah, that's why, I am planning to marry an Indian girl there.

Alex: But you can find lots of US girls in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai.

John: But, I prefer Indian girls because they are beautiful and cultured.

Alex: Where did you get the offer, Hyderabad?

John: Yeah, salary is good there, but cost of living is quite high, it is Rs. 2000/- for a single room accommodation.

Alex: I see, that's too much for US people, Rs.1/- =$100/-. Oh God! What about in Bangalore, Mumbai?

John: No idea, but it is less than what we have in Hyderabad. It is like the world headquarters of software.

Alex: I heard, almost all the Indians are having one personal Robot for help.

John: You can get a BMW car for Rs. 5000/-, and a personal Robot for less than Rs.7500/-. But my dream is to purchase Ambassador, which costs Rs.2 ,00,000/- but has got a lovely design.

Alex: By the way, who is your client?

John: Subbarao and Apparao Associates, a pure Indian company, specialising in Embedded Software.

Alex: Oh, really, lucky to work in a pure Indian company. They are really intelligent and unlike American Bodyshoppers who have opened their Fly-by-night outfits in India . Indian companies pay you in full even when you are on bench.

My friend Paul Allen, it seems, used his bench time to visit Bihar, the most liveable place in India , probably world. There you have full freedom and no restrictions. You can do whatever you want! I wonder how that state has perfected that system.

John: Yeah man!, you are right. I hope our America also follows their footsteps.

Alex: How are you going to cope with their language?

John: Why not? From my school days I have been learning Hindi as my first language here at New York . At the Consulate they tested my proficiency in Hindi and were quite impressed by my cent per cent score in TOHIL i.e. Test of Hindi as International Language.

Alex: So, you are going to have fun there.

John: Yeah, I will be travelling in the world's fastest train, world's largest theme park, and the famous Bollywood where you can see actors like, Hrithik, Shah Rukh Khan and all. Esselworld is also near Bollywood.

Alex: You know, the PM is scheduled to visit US next year, he may then relax the number of visas.

John: That's true. Last month, Narayana Murthy visited White House and donated Rs. 2000/- for infrastructure development at Silicon Valley and has promised more if we follow the model of High-Tech City of Bangalore. Bill Gates also got a chance of meeting him. Very lucky
person.

Alex: But, Indian government is planning to split Narayanamurthy's Infosys.

John: He is a hard worker man, he can build any number of Infosys like this. Every minute he is getting Rs. 1000/-. It seems, if you keep all his money converted as Rs. 100/- notes you can reach Pluto.


Alex: OK, Good Luck John.

John: Same to you Alex. And don't go to Consulate in a "Kurta Pyjama" because they will think you are too Indianised and may doubt you will never come back and hence your Non-Immigrant Visa may get rejected. But don't forget to say "Namaste, aap kaise hai" to the Visa officer at Window 5. It seems he likes that and will not give you a visa if you don't greet him that way.

Interesting Huh?

NoeL

NB: I don't know whether the author of this piece of article was trying to be frank or sarcastic towards India!