Knol Still Lives After Google Cleans House?

With Google really doing a double take on which projects to continue supporting and which to let go, a lot of people are feeling confused as to the logic behind continuing with the project known as Knol. Some people have speculated that it might have something to do with the fact that Google sees long term value in a Wikipedia like idea, hence wishing to keep the project around to potentially profit from it later.

Honestly, while Google has made some great calls in recent months, keeping Knol is not one of them in my line of thought. The problem is it is asking people to use a project that is basically duplicating a successful project that is already pretty hard to compete with. Wikipedia does not need to be duplicated and thus, I personally see Knol as a waste of time. Maybe I am wrong, but that is how I see it.

Semantic Web, social ideals, the fact that it is a new project? Who really knows what is going on with the desire to keep this going when clearly, it is a ways off before it will bear any fruit. So this brings me to asking each of you. Are you of the mind that eventually, the Knol project will serve Google enough that it will justify its own existence as the company continues to cut back? Hit the comments, let us know what you think.