Google has finally released its online encyclopedia, first announced back in December 2007. The information the new service, for now called Knol, will bring will be user-generated, just like that found on the popular Wikipedia website.

However, Google’s service will take things to a totally different level; those who submit articles are to be identified and, depending on the number of views their work records, they can get paid. The company will obviously get its share of the profit.

According to Knol product manager Cedric Dupont and software engineer Michael McNally, knols represent authoritative articles focusing on specific subjects; those who write them are well informed and competent individuals.

Knol submitters will be encouraged to use their real names and stand by their work, in order to increase the level of credibility articles present; this would be one of the differences between Knol and Wikipedia; the latter mostly includes the work of anonymous authors.  

Despite its minor glitches, Wikipedia, founded back in January 2001, has managed to become very widely used and currently features about 8.2 million articles in over 200 languages. The encyclopedia is not ad-supported; its funds are received from the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, which supports the idea of free dissemination of information.

With Knol, readers will be able to suggest modiffications, but it will be up to the authors to accept, reject or modify those suggestions. Readers will also be given the chance to comment on the materials they view, rate them and write reviews.

It reamains to be seen whether or not the new ad-supported encyclopedia will be more successful than its rival, as it is giving authors the chance to actually make some money. Time will tell.