The end of .com ? Yes ? No ?

[Irish31]

I imagine that there may be ".countries" or ".cities" extensions so it may be common in the future to refer to geo domains in such a way.

If this is the case then investing in "geo".com does not seem to be a reasonable thing.

Any more opinion on this?

Mate, they can and have been making an extension for just about any industry or product out there, ICANN will make a .dogshiat TLD if they thought people were into it and there was money to be made.

Unless very influential people with alot of money and time promote the new TLD very hard, and intelligently, nothing is going to change. And even then, it is the public that will decide what will rule.

You would sit and wait half a decade, easily, for this to happen and it likely won't, and that geo.com you wanted that is 150k now may be going for 350k then.

[hugegrowth]

I'll never type in more than 4 letters after the 'dot' when surfing the web.

the more letters in the extension, the more chance for misspellings and typos.

.paris, .chicago, .athens, .argentina, .canada - forget it

how about .mississippi ?

and will they be english spelling? what about french, spanish, russian, etc.

Is it .italy, .italie, .italia or what?

Not to mention the possibility from accents, and IDN - chinese, korean, japanese.

what a mess...

I wonder if someone like Frank Schilling will go after a .web registry, he has talked about that being a good extension if it ever came into existence.

Since this is over a year away, there's lots of time to review the pros and cons. I wasn't sure if this would affect my domain buying/selling decisions, but the more I think about it, the less worried I am.

[Seraphim]

I wonder if someone like Frank Schilling will go after a .web registry, he has talked about that being a good extension if it ever came into existence.

Since this is over a year away, there's lots of time to review the pros and cons. I wasn't sure if this would affect my domain buying/selling decisions, but the more I think about it, the less worried I am.

Although I'm a .com guy, domain.web is smooth on the keyboard indeed. Would be a great extension.

[bludex]

I hope that ISPs won't sell packages for access to only their special TLD part of the web with some limited remapping of the free web, see http://www.americanfreepress.net/htm...ensorship.html

What will be interesting to see is the run for single character TLDs if allowed. They could compete in the short domain sector and for generics. You could have sex.1, sex.2, etc . thus diluting the value of sex.com for instance. It will take some pull from one side of the demand because people can compare alternatives and choose the economical more viable one. We will have to see how it plays out. Security of investment will still be on the side of established and probed out TLDs like .com .

OK I'm claiming Prior Art now - in case noboy has patented already - on the method of making website owners pay for internet audience of certain ISPs by sale of remapped domains of their TLD domainspace.
Example: if I have sex.com and want to have audience from .sheeple , the TLD of the ISP letting it's users only access .sheeple, I have to buy sex.sheeple for the price they are setting.
So with Prior Art I should be able to file a patent and prohibit the application of this method hopefully.
Think I need some help now from you ...

[David G]

Is suspect (and hope) IOdesign.com will get dot-web which I feel is an extension which is so good and natural it could compete with com's.

Visit the site http://iodesign.com

[hugegrowth]

every extension that has been created around a theme has had low to mid-level success.

.biz for business sites

.info for information sites

.tv for video sites

.travel for travel sites

.mobi for mobile sites

.com still gets used for all these types of sites and more, and is preferred all the time (meaning you would take the .com domain first if it's available and affordable over any other extension).

The question is, why will these new extensions be any different? The fact that there could be an unlimited amount of new extensions doesn't make up for the fact that they will all be unknown to the masses, and will take lots of advertising/marketing muscle to promote.

[Seraphim]

every extension that has been created around a theme has had low to mid-level success.

.biz for business sites

.info for information sites

.tv for video sites

.travel for travel sites

.mobi for mobile sites

.com still gets used for all these types of sites and more, and is preferred all the time (meaning you would take the .com domain first if it's available and affordable over any other extension).

The question is, why will these new extensions be any different? The fact that there could be an unlimited amount of new extensions doesn't make up for the fact that they will all be unknown to the masses, and will take lots of advertising/marketing muscle to promote.

.web is more inclusive than all those you mentioned, it's also way better than .net and .org. I see a real contender with this one.

[Ownager]

cheers big ears to the .com!

[Anthony Ng]

.biz for business sites

.info for information sites

.tv for video sites

.travel for travel sites

.mobi for mobile sites

THAT, I would say, is VERY successful. LOL!

[DomainsInc]

I imagine that there may be ".countries" or ".cities" extensions so it may be common in the future to refer to geo domains in such a way.

If this is the case then investing in "geo".com does not seem to be a reasonable thing.

Any more opinion on this?

Actaully nevermind. I have had a sudden revelation that only these new exentions will sell in the new year :(

[Domainator]

I do not think this is any threat to the .com wave. There will always be a threat to the .com as it is KING, and you know that there are those who always want to chop the king's head off!

I would worry more about .mobi

[gemsergio]

Well at first they will be expensive but later on they will be as cheap as .com
I can see names resolving without even the . basically yahoo google ibm. Once the big company will go that way there will be no return.
Its just a matter of time before this happens.
In a certain way I see the end of the .com era and the new beginning.
Firstly will be geodomains and lastnames and companies big companies. If you think google will not push his own extension you are actually dreaming same as yahoo
facebook

What will user will type 20 years from now?
http://www.sandiegorestaurants.com
http://www.sandiegorestaurants
http://sandiego.restaurants
http://restaurants.sandiego
http://sandiegorestaurants
Or will extension die?
What would google and MSN and yahoo love to see more than anything?
Obviously not even typing any extension at all since they would make gazillion of USD from searches.
When will the campaign "lose the dot" start? (PS lose the dot is copyrighted and no you cannot use it )
LOSE THE DOT LOSE THE DOT

[flamewalker]

Ok, maybe your point applies for companies like Ford, GM, Burger King, etc.

What about my cousin Mary who starts a website selling her home made greeting cards?

Or Joe down the street who starts a website for his plumbing business?

Or someone's personal blog, family website, small business site, etc. that probably make up more of the web than big corporate sites?

What does Johnson & Johnson use for their extension? .JandJ, .johnsonandjohnson, .J&J ?

There is no one solution that can eliminate the need for a domain name for every single website in existence.

And then what about the need for domains in an email address?

Exactly my point... at $150k, average people won't be able to afford them, mainly larger companies. If they ever did get below a few hundred, I could see it becoming more distinct, and a possible revamp of the domain system as a whole to include the .whatevers or http://whatever ...

Regarding the domains required for emails, that would definitely be another hurdle. It would take, I would imagine, a massive update to ALL ISP servers worldwide to figure out how to resolve a tld... ie do you forward it to me@me? Right now it would pop back saying invalid domain. Oh the headaches THAT would cause for us ISP admins...

[xmax22]

Biggest Expansion in gTLDs Approved for Implementation
26 June 2008



Paris, France: The Board of ICANN today approved a recommendation that could see a whole range of new names introduced to the Internet's addressing system.
"The Board today accepted a recommendation from its global stakeholders that it is possible to implement many new names to the Internet, paving the way for an expansion of domain name choice and opportunity" said Dr Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN.
A final version of the implementation plan must be approved by the ICANN Board before the new process is launched. It is intended that the final version will be published in early 2009.
"The potential here is huge. It represents a whole new way for people to express themselves on the Net," said Dr Twomey. "It's a massive increase in the 'real estate' of the Internet."
Presently, users have a limited range of 21 top level domains to choose from — names that we are all familiar with like .com, .org, .info.
This proposal allows applicants for new names to self-select their domain name so that choices are most appropriate for their customers or potentially the most marketable. It is expected that applicants will apply for targeted community strings such as (the existing) .travel for the travel industry and .cat for the Catalan community (as well as generic strings like .brandname or .yournamehere). There are already interested consortiums wanting to establish city-based top level domain, like .nyc (for New York City), .berlin and .paris.
"One of the most exciting prospect before us is that the expanding system is also being planned to support extensions in the languages of the world," said Peter Dengate Thrush, ICANN's Chairman. "This is going to be very important for the future of the Internet in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia." The present system only supports 37 Roman characters.
Upon approval of the implementation plan, it is planned that applications for new names will be available in the second quarter of 2009.
Frequently asked questions on the process





1. Are you selling these new names?
ICANN is not "selling" new top level domain names. There will be a limited application period where any established entity from anywhere in the world can submit an application that will go through an evaluation process. It is anticipated that there will be additional rounds relatively soon after the close of the first application round.
2. What's to stop others registering my brand name?
Trademarks will not be automatically reserved. But there will be an objection-based mechanism for trademark owners where their arguments for protection will be considered.
3. How did this proposal get developed?
ICANN has a multi-stakeholder policy development process that served as the foundation for the process design. It involved consultation with domain name industry, trade mark attorneys, the business sector, users, governments and technicians.
4. How will offensive names be prevented?
Offensive names will be subject to an objection-based process based on public morality and order. This process will be conducted by an international arbitration body utilizing criteria drawing on provisions in a number of international treaties. ICANN will not be the decision maker on these objections.
5. When will all this happen?
ICANN is working towards accepting the first applications in the second quarter of 2009.
About ICANN:
ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that help computers reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of these resources is vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's global stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the Internet's ongoing security and stability. ICANN is an internationally organized, public benefit non-profit company. For more information please visit: www.icann.org.
Media Contacts:
Jason Keenan
Media Adviser, ICANN
Ph: +1 310 382 4004
E: jason.keenan@icann.org
International: Andrew Robertson
Edelman (London)
Ph: +44 7921 588 770
E: andrew.robertson@edelman.com


http://icann.com/en/announcements/announcement-4-26jun08-en.htm

[SIKHboy]

.LMAO extension would be good for ICaNN

.Sad extension for Icann

.Bad extension and bad decision by ICann.

ICANN,----LOSSERS?

pEOPLE who controlled the internet, got hacked , W0W.

[svfox]

IT IS ALL OVER!!!!!
THIS IS THE END OF DOMAINS!!!!!!

But I tell you what I am going to do. Just for you, cuz I love you.
I will buy your .com domains for $7 so you don't have to take huge losses.

[Area52]

I'm.not going.to say.anything more.on the.subject

[brian1234]

Can I ask an important question?

What will happen to all the existing domain 'hacks' that
do not have trademark protection??

e.g. foru.ms, ri.sk, www.im

Cheers,

[Ilze]

I am glad most of my portfolio is dot CA. I believe that my generics will be the most valuable then, and most importantly, most Canadian computers will have a default to
dot ca addresses. As it stands now, I get results for Ottawa...which is where I am located. Country codes will become more valuable and relevant.

[Stian]

Believe it or not, a town in North Wales is called:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch

I would love to see how people will handle the .llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysili ogogogoch extension.