What's in a Domain
A company here in Syracuse named its website in a commercial, and needless to say, it wasn't the name of the company in question. You may remember the "great landgrab" of the 1990s, when some forward-thinking folks realized that there was gold in them thar domain names, and promptly grabbed, and squatted on, such properties as "coke.com." The courts eventually ruled that a trademarked name had to be given up, but that left an awful lot of companies out in the cold.
Naturally, there are any number of companies called "Shear Madness," or "Best Properties," but they reside in different cities. They might even reside in different countries! Until recently, a ".com" designation with a popular name could be traded for a lot of cash. This is still the case, but ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has proposed even more top-level domains that should help with this, especially where the international market is concerned, but even, to an extent, here in the U.S.
You're probably already familiar with the top-level domains ".org," (usually used for not-for-profits, or other social or charitable organizations); ".biz," (an attempt to give businesses a chance to use their real name, but it never took off); ".mobi," (for mobile-specific sites, it never caught on in the U.S., but is popular in Europe); and things like ".ca," for Canada, or ".fr" for France, etc.
Now ICANN wants to add a wide variety of location-specific designations, as well as organization or content type; for example, ".paris" and ".nyc" would refer to the cities; ".kids" would specify a site aimed at children, and ".med" would mean its a site about medicine and medical organizations. Others include:
.eco – environmental causes
.post – postal organizations
.shop – electronic commerce sites
.sport – sport sites
.wine – Reserved for wine sites
.xxx – adult entertainment; as of June 2010, approved but not yet implemented
One of the things that is most fascinating about this is that with the advent of the internet, not only were businesses able to do business around the world, but they were also suddenly in competition with businesses around the world.
New domain names won't change that entirely, but will help us all narrow our searches to relevant results.
Naturally, there are any number of companies called "Shear Madness," or "Best Properties," but they reside in different cities. They might even reside in different countries! Until recently, a ".com" designation with a popular name could be traded for a lot of cash. This is still the case, but ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has proposed even more top-level domains that should help with this, especially where the international market is concerned, but even, to an extent, here in the U.S.
You're probably already familiar with the top-level domains ".org," (usually used for not-for-profits, or other social or charitable organizations); ".biz," (an attempt to give businesses a chance to use their real name, but it never took off); ".mobi," (for mobile-specific sites, it never caught on in the U.S., but is popular in Europe); and things like ".ca," for Canada, or ".fr" for France, etc.
Now ICANN wants to add a wide variety of location-specific designations, as well as organization or content type; for example, ".paris" and ".nyc" would refer to the cities; ".kids" would specify a site aimed at children, and ".med" would mean its a site about medicine and medical organizations. Others include:
.eco – environmental causes
.post – postal organizations
.shop – electronic commerce sites
.sport – sport sites
.wine – Reserved for wine sites
.xxx – adult entertainment; as of June 2010, approved but not yet implemented
One of the things that is most fascinating about this is that with the advent of the internet, not only were businesses able to do business around the world, but they were also suddenly in competition with businesses around the world.
New domain names won't change that entirely, but will help us all narrow our searches to relevant results.
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