<p>Going back a few weeks ago, in a middle of a &#8220;Alcides, help me on this computer-related matter&#8221; conversion with a non-geek friend:</p>

<div class="quote">Alcides, even if I asked you the meaning of life, you would tell me to google it, wouldn't you?</div>

<p>To which I replied:</p>

<div class="quote">Actually no, I believe Wikipedia has a nice article on that subject.</div>

<p>That&#8217;s it! Big G is number one on the internet. Thanks to Firefox (and other tools), Google is the default page for a lot of folks out there! And number one engine search that I believe is more used than the address bar itself (more on this in the near future)! But how many searches you did in the past week had a Wikipedia page as the first or second result? A lot I bet!</p>

<p>Envy is not a good thing, but people with money need to multiply it and do whatever it takes to expand themselves into what consumers want. Back in 95, when I first used the internet, it was for searching stuff to my schoolworks. It&#8217;s still its main purpose for many people. So Google has to own that domain, and Wikipedia has gone too far already! So, let&#8217;s spend $1.000.000.(put as many zeros as you want).000 and get professionals to do better content! Users will prefer our database! And luckily they will click on our adsenses that will make us earn $9.999.999.(put as many nines as you want).999!</p>

<p>Smart move, but will the people that already are used to free and without ads wikipedia change to something that provides more quality and has some advertising? I guess no. And most wikipedia articles are already written by guys who know the subject!</p>

<p>It&#8217;s sad that Google appears to be that WeSupportOpenSource guys, but when it comes to opensource content they are not that open!</p>

<p>Oh, and this time I&#8217;m proud of being Portuguese. Our little google, <a href="http://www.sapo.pt"><span class="caps">SAPO</span></a> <a href="http://saber.sapo.pt">has already done something like this</a>. Too bad I don&#8217;t think any of them will be useful&#8230;</p>

<p>More on this <a href="http://pauloquerido.net/2007/12/knol-hype-cool">here</a> and <a href="http://blog.karlus.net/archives/2007/12/17/1838/">here</a>.</p>