I can't wait to see how well this works out. If the results are good it could put another nail in the coffin for classroom only education. Although I foresee a lot of those that register for the free online course dropping out. Most people won't put a high enough value on a free class, especially if they're not getting credit.
> Most people won't put a high enough value on a free class, especially if they're not getting credit. Both Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig are Very Important Persons in Google (Google Fellow / Google Director). This is basically a free diploma to be put in the CV for any Google wanna-be engineer, if they can make it. I doubt even credit would be more important than it.
Well, even if you're not a Google wanna-be it's pretty cool. I signed up (for an update when registration is open), but I'm afraid I won't have the time to properly devote to it as well. If it's free of charge learning there is a tendency to let other things get in the way vs. prioritizing it because you paid full tuition price. At least that was my experience in college with the trust fund kids vs. the people that were working three jobs to scrape tuition together. There may be some selection bias there though.