Asher Ricard

Move Over .Com: Time For A New Address



Posted: Friday, June 27, 2008

by

Say good-bye to the traditional web addresses. An internet oversight group, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, unanimously passed rules to allow new endings to web addresses.

Now uses will be able to have domain names that end with words such as .sports or .newyork. It is the first changes to the system in 25 years of its existence.

Not only coming to the realization of the fact that the internet have been in existence for 25 years makes me feel old, but I also have to feel older because now there are more endings to have to remember.

I can’t tell you how many times I go to type in a site and forget if it is .com or .org. Now there are infinite possibilities. I am worried.

Not to mention the disputes this change will cause. If two organizations want the same endings, the board said a decision would be made through auction. This is already the case for the .sports.

Officials said any applications for the new domains would have to go through an independent review process. Third parties will be able to challenge applications on the grounds that a particular suffix could threaten “morality and public order." And companies will have the first priority when it comes to claiming their brand names. Therefore coke would have the first choice when it comes to the .coke address.

It should be interesting to see what creative people come up with now that there are so many more endless options. Should we apply now for .searchwarp domain address?

And because one sweeping change is not enough in an organization in 25 years, the group decided to add a second sweeping change. The board also passed another less controversial proposal that would allow these domains to be registered in scripts other than Roman characters, like Chinese, Arabic and Cyrillic. Specific countries could receive the equivalent of their two-letter country code, like Bulgaria’s .bg, in their native alphabet.

I think overall while exciting this is going to just create confusion for users. After all, it took us 25 years to really begin to be proficient at the Internet we know now. Adding an infinite amount more addresses will just make it more confusing.

It will be fun to watch the outcome. What are your thoughts? Any domain addresses you want to grab quickly?

This Article has been viewed 293 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Rev Michael
from Bresciani 3 years 201 days ago.
Thanks for this headsup kind of article. I will be watching the changes you spoke of with interest. Good Writing. Rev Michael Bresciani
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.