>i'm probably going to be labelled a heretic...

Sinner! :)

>the problem with domain names is that they don't scale.
>multiple 2LD's don't solve this problem, they only complicate matters.
>if a .biz.au, .co.au, .foo.au were created, a fair few existing domain
>owners would be racing to register their .com.au names in the other
>2LD's. so sometimes foo.com.au would reach foo.biz.au, but
>bar.com.au != bar.biz.au.
>what is wrong with moving away from the vanity names altogether &
>going to a system much like phone numbers/car rego plates for domain names? 
>directory services take care of the searches for entities on the net, much
>the same way 013/altavista takes care of entities in the phone system.
>vanity names can be obtained, however they come at a price.
>
>i have no magic solutions, i'm just thinking long term. this is a problem
>the internet will have to solve. i'd like to think there is a more satisfying
>solution than anything that i have seen proposed to date.

If we were going to go the way of car rego/phone numbers, we've already got
the equivalent... IP addresses.

If I had a dollar for every time I was asked "Does the Internet have an
index?" or similar, I'd be long since retired.  And some form of absolute
index would be required.

I like your observation about the domain name system not scaling.  Indeed it
has worked well for a while, but as time goes by more people start wanting
the same domain names and clashes begin to occur, problems arise.

Which brings us back to the question of what is the role of a domain name?

Organization.
Easier to remember than an IP address.
Marketing.

The last one is the problem.  Domain names were not designed with the
intention of handling marketing.  But they are now being used for that.

The DNS is not supposed to be a directory service, but in the absence of an
actual directory service, people who don't understand the Internet will
persist in trying to use it as one.

Cheers

Brett

----
Brett Caird		Chief Executive/Director
brettc§bit.net.au	http://www.bit.net.au/
Brisbane Internet Technology Pty Ltd