OptiRex - 10:45 am on Aug 10, 2006 (gmt 0)

Will there ever come a day when .com is overtaken by another domain name and if so what would it be.

How about . x x x! when it's finally allowed? The board won't accept the correct extension!

When that occurs it will probably create a new mind set amongst the average surfers that something else is available.

Overall, this still makes .com utterly dominant for English language websites;

Maybe so for US-based companies however not necessarily so for the rest of the Enlish speaking world.

and totally dominant for 'international' web sites.

Useful but not necessarily essential.

I assume that you do not have an international business background otherwise you would know that many international companies when trying to source new products like to ensure that they are purchasing direct rather than through agents or trading houses?

This is specifically prevalent in China and I can assure you that our .cn sites receive far, far more business enquiries in English than our .com sites that carry precisely the same product information.

The difference? .cn and the contact e-mail address!

I can also confirm that the same applies to our .in addresses.

That's not the end of .com - it's more like the end of .biz and .info - does anyone disagree?

Yep, I do. Unfortunately I feel that many purchasers outside of the main English speaking world may take a more insular view and actually refuse to do business with US/UK/whatever companies/countries.

Will .com reign supreme when China and India are the world's largest economies?

Could .biz and .info be seen to be independent of the US connection? Just a thought.

Yes, very soon! It will be replaced by .whateveryouwish!

That's a very good point, there's no reason why not other than creating possible confusion in the user's mind however the benefits are very evident for many specific industries like .car, .music, .oil, .farm etc.

One thing I do know, I know nothing, and I haven't known that for very long:-)