This page, tracing the üse of ümlaüt's in the names of heavy metal bands, is an excellent demonstration why it will be impossible to beat Wikipedia in the long term. You just can't get that kind of dedication with money, certainly not with any amount of money you're willing to pay. Yes, we don't yet have the same kind of dedication for all kinds of material, all the stuff the 'classical' encyclopediae excel at is in trouble, but that's just a temporary condition.

(via Jon Udell. Through his link you can catch a live film of the intense editing history of this entry unfold)