Google opens doors to Knol

Jay Walsh, spokesman of the Wikimedia Foundation -- Wikipedia's parent organization -- declined to comment about the competing Google service, but said in an e-mail that the group is "always happy" when information is made freely available to the public "under any of the free content licenses."

"The Foundation's mission is to increase the amount of free knowledge globally, and to help bring that knowledge to audiences in as many formats and methods as possible, both on the internet and in off-line formats. To that end, we're always pleased to see other organizations undertaking similar, free knowledge mission work," Walsh said.

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