pageoneresults - 5:19 pm on Nov 15, 2007 (gmt 0)

If there's any advantage from .edu links, it would likely reside in the fact that .edu sites tend to accumulate stronger than average "trust signals" which might in turn confer benefits on the sites they link to.

Agreed. We have our own little link networks that tend to be a bit more powerful than the norm. :)

In regards to Google's current indexing routines, I believe the so-called sandbox may not exist like it once did? So, a new site launching these days is likely to garner some exposure in a quicker time period than previous. But, that is all relative. :)

I'm going to give Kudos to EDUCAUSE for cleaning up the .edu space. It has been a slow process but they are doing a bang up job of exercising control over the .edu TLD. Luckily for many .edu holders, there are grandfather clauses. I would expect those to change over the next 12-24 months as they do further cleanup.