This could BE the Wikipedia killer which no one was apparently waiting for.

Google Knol allows anyone with a Google ID to submit an article. The author gets the ability to allow Google advertising on the article.

The revenues generated from that advertising is shared with the author of the article. This factor alone is a good enough reason for people to share their knowledge here instead of Wikipedia.

If Google can keep the spam content/links away from this portal… This could be huge.

But I have a feeling that it would soon become a new addition to all those lists of websites which accepts user articles for SEO purposes.