Hi all,

David has hit on the most salient point of this whole issue. Domain names
only have value when they provide value to the end user. How many
technologies have passed into extinction despite last-ditch attempts by
supporters to resurrect their value?... 8 Track cartridges... the "Beta"
Cam...

When the user no longer supports the concept of using domain names to find
information on the Internet, then the $ value of this naming convention is
gone - and I would suggest that we are further into this than many people in
the industry think... perhaps a danger of being "too close" to the issue...
however ask any Internet user nowadays (obviously not someone who
administers an ISP or sits on an internet governing board!), how they find
information on the Internet, and they will tell you... through a Search
Engine.

Very few people nowadays go through the mental process of "OK, now if I type
quantas.com.au (or is that qantas.com.au?), I might find what I am after"...
what they do is click "Home" (because 9 out of 10 people set a Search Engine
as their homepage), and type "Qantas Australia". They know they will get a
selection of matches offering far more choice than by typing single
repetitive entries into the URL box. They simply read the brief
descriptives, and select the link that best meets their needs - irrespective
of the domain name (which may or may not be displayed). Bookmark the page
(which refers to the title, not the domain name), and you have the address
for life.

If anyone doubts the validity of this, then please attend one of the
thousands of internet familiarisation courses being run throughout
Australia - this is how we are teaching people to use the Internet!... and a
further indicator... many companies are now registering acronym's as domains
(because the name they want is unavailable)... these acronyms mean nothing
to the masses... it might as well be an IP address.

Unfortunately I think a few good marketing guru's have grossly overestimated
the value and longevity of the DNS system (and yes, we all bought it), but
like the .com's... reality will hit hard and a lot of people may be left
with worthless virtual real estate.

Am I miles off the mark? - interested in your thoughts.

Cheers, Don