A complete overhaul of the way in which people navigate the internet has been given the go-ahead in Paris.The net's regulator, Icann, voted unanimously to relax the strict rules on so-called "top-level" domain names, such as .com or .uk.
The decision means that companies could turn brands into web addresses, while individuals could use their names.
Here it goes, I am the first to post the news (hopefully)
This is kind of nuts. Big mistake.
[edited by: engine at 4:49 pm (utc) on June 26, 2008]
[edit reason] added quote [/edit]
ICANN haz girls.porn
oh well, guess its time to revise the business plan
Sort of feel for search engines who now must decide on a whole new set of criteria for the algo design. Should cost them quite a bit in retooling.
Did not see a reference in the BBC article as to the price of these new TLDs, but have seen references to a $50K price tag elsewhere. Does anyone know what the final price point for a rock.myworld domain might be?
Any clue as to how one might register these?
Perhaps we should pool our money and buy .Greed - perhaps it will become a perpetual memorial site to commemorate this event.
-Commerce
.con domains are going to be worth a fortune. In Nigeria.
Think of all of the money ICANN will make! (Lots!)
Think of all of the value ICANN will add! (Zero!)
I can't decide if this is a good thing for Google and Yahoo or a bad thing. Complexity is their friend. Still, ICANN a competitor.
Advertise your widget on dot-widget or a search engine? There is only so much money to be spent on marketing. It's a bad thing for them, maybe. Which might be a good thing.
*gwahahaa*
...
wouldn't you want to see that?
but now at least:
ican.spam
in fact:
ican.doanything
This may just bring in another search engine as the load is going to to much for the 3 we have now, and who knows maybe the domain squatters will begin unloading some of their holdings as I know this has caused a fear in the domain world.
Looks to me like the domain era has taken an new twist and the .com has now been devalued.
I know, I know. Not exactly a moral view but one that would at least take some of the ridiculous amount of money ICANN will make off of this and give it to someone who will at least do SOMETHING productive with it.
The .com suffix is the most popular and most costly TLD.
That is from the BBC report - not sure where they got the idea that .com was the most costly TLD
The decision does reek of profiteering by ICANN and will lead to profiteering by domain registration companies.
Individuals will be able to register a domain based on their own name, for example, as long as they can show a "business plan and technical capacity".Companies will be able to secure domain names based on their intellectual property.
The result could be thousands or even millions of new addresses.
Who is going to be in charge of approving the domain names? Surely they cannot just open it up to existing domain registration companies who will approve and abuse the situation to drive their profits up.
Naturally there will likely be millions more new addresses available - and that means millions more spam pages appearing in search results (as well as duplicate content possibilities).
"On balance, the board feels that adopting this resolution is in the best interests of the internet and the public at large," said Icann board member Dennis Jennings.
What he was really saying is that it will make them a good income and to hell with how much it costs companies to protect their brands.
Anyone want to pool on what the first gtld will be?
I don't think ICANN will allow the first one to be of adult nature.
Lesson 1
When everyone but you or your close circle of friends think you're crazy - chances are pretty good that you are, in fact, crazy.
Lesson 2
When you think you're so smart that you start thinking that those who doubt you just aren't smart enough to grasp the brillance of your plan - chances are pretty good you're not that smart.
Lesson 3
When you have already introduced new gTLDs - such as .Biz, .Travel and less so .Info, and let's not forget the "essential" .Mobi gTLD - and witnessed how little these new "major introductions" have altered or improved the landscape and still, you cannot stop yourself from spawning even more gTLDs - unlimited gTLDs - chances are you aren't "listening to the conversation" = observing the obvious = you have fallen off the Cluetrain.
OTOH, I guess it could be argued that opening up the gTLD system IS, in a way, hopping on the Cluetrain since under the "new system" ICANN will let the marketplace propose the new gTLDs . . although, if I recall my history lessons, that was supposedly the forces that lead to the introduction of .Travel, etc.
Bring 'em on. Unlimited gTLDs. Why not? I'm sure the infrastructure issues are minor. Governance, though, may require a lot more oversight, new jobs will be created, more travel to conferences at exotic locations, etc.
[edited by: Webwork at 8:01 pm (utc) on June 26, 2008]
I'm buying .smith, and .man. I'll charge a ridiculous fee to register a domains like:
john.smith, bob.smith, lock.smith
mail.man, police.man, fire.man, ups.man,
sure could be interesting if a third party <cough>google</cough> announced that they would not crawl these new domains
You're thinking!
The result could be thousands or even millions of new addresses.
Isn't that a great thing? Nobody forces anyone to register all possible combinations of your trademarks... meanwhile, this could finally put a deflationary pressure on domain names. Getting a decent .com these days is very difficult. It's an artificial scarcity that is not necessary, created by arbitrary rules.
What am I missing? Domain holders are worried their property will lose value? That's the reality of the speculation business. On the other end, people looking for the best possible domain for their site may get it without spending more than a few bucks a year.
you guys are missing the most opportunistic extensions : typos of the .com, .org and .net
ICANN will not sell typos or extensions that have no purpose. They've already made that clear.
Domain holders are worried their property will lose value?Bingo other than that what does it hurt if someone wants to register a domin name and doesn't want to pay 6 k for it under a .com
I kinda dig my first.lastname domain name myself.
Yea I have domain names now that I know I will be losing money on but as koan said that's the life of speculation and this just opens up another time in the life of the net....Good or bad here we go.
Domain holders are worried their property will lose value? That's the reality of the speculation business.
Yes, I'm certain domainers will not be able to sustain another shock to aftermarket pricing such as price drop that followed the introduction of .Biz.
Or was it the introduction of .Info that caused the aftermarket to crash?
No? Then it was the launch of .Travel that crashed the market, right?
As far as I can tell, the introduction of new gTLDs hasn't been the undoing of .Com. In fact, as the WWW becomes increasingly schizophrenic, I suspect websites in the .Com "domain" will increasingly look like a safe haven to explore and to build upon, especially as the new gTLDs start collapsing - as .Travel almost did.
.comm
.comn
.conm
.comk
.comj
.ork
.orgg
.orgf
Does anyone REALLY need this? Isn't the .info and .biz spam bad enough already?
Call me shortsighted, but I can't foresee my business model changing.
I don't see it "devaluing" .com - people are "programmed" to the concept that "websites end in .com" (or less frequently .net or .org). That isn't about to change in a hurry, and adding to the confusion isn't going to speed it along.
Bingo other than that what does it hurt if someone wants to register a domin name and doesn't want to pay 6 k for it under a .comI kinda dig my first.lastname domain name myself.
It will cost plenty for someone to implement .lastname (as was mentioned in the other thread, they'd basically have to apply to become a registry), and who knows how much they will charge others to register first names with them? Could end up being cheaper to buy it from the registrant of the .com!
[edited by: MamaDawg at 7:42 pm (utc) on June 26, 2008]
ICANN will not sell typos or extensions that have no purpose. They've already made that clear.
Where that proposition falls short is in the realm of language.
One man's nonsense stream of letters is another man's famous last name or how a city's name "is sounded-out and/or spelled using English".
One man's nonsense string of letters is another man's acronym, chemical formula, etc.
Only someone who loves bureaucracy could love what this may introduce.
Plus all the things Jcaron mentionned in his GREAT previous post
[webmasterworld.com...] (post #:3683026) - so don't expect thousands or even millions of new addresses, just a few after a very very review process.
Anyway, .tel and .[triple]x are next...
just a few
What we're really seeing is ICANN admitting they really don't know what they're doing.
"Hmmm . . let's see. We introduced .Biz . . but that didn't work. We introduced .Info, but mostly that has served as a platform for email spam since the domains were priced so cheap in an effort to get people to use .Info. Then we introduced .Travel . . but that gTLD had to be rescued from near bankruptcy. Oh, and our latest baby - .Mobi - has anyone figured out why a design standard required a gTLD? Oh, and I almost forgot the wildly successful .Pro and .Name gTLDs. Ya, can't forget them . . or did I? :-P"
So, now, instead of ICANN spawning a new round of gTLDs ICANN can sit back and watch the checks and applications start rolling in as others, with money to burn, step up to the gTLD craps table.
Want to corner the market on Yellowpages? Hey! Create the .YP or .Yellow gTLD and (attempt to) make it authoritative. (Who will be first there?)
There won't be a few. There will be a few enterprises who will specialize in selling industries "registry start up packages" and then it will be off to the races. .Law .Med .Accountant .Teacher .Dog .Cat .Flowers
I don't think it will be a matter of a "few new ones". I think it may be a matter of a few that actually succeed.
But whether they succeed or not won't be ICANN's problem, right? They'lll just collect their administrative fees.
[edited by: Webwork at 7:57 pm (utc) on June 26, 2008]
