Darryl,

You are absolutely correct about price. Red tape in .au makes it more
expensive. Poor tender management by auDA results in the registry taking
more than their fare share. Siphoning millions of dollars into separate
legal entities for dubious endeavours all add to the cost of your .com.au
name.

Making businesses jump through hoops to justify their selection of name has
the same effect.

It drives people away from .au to .com. I think that's bad. I'd prefer
Australian businesses to use .au. Partly from self interest and partly
because I think in most cases it's more appropriate.

I disagree with your assertion that the current policy enforces the .au
branding. As you said, most people don't understand. They choose what is
easier and what is cheaper. And the numbers show the result: gTLDs 2,
Australia 1

Larry

-----Original Message-----
From: dns-bounces+larry.bloch=netregistry.com.au§dotau.org
[mailto:dns-bounces+larry.bloch=netregistry.com.au§dotau.org] On Behalf Of
Darryl (Dassa) Lynch
Sent: Thursday, 8 June 2006 8:09
To: '.au DNS Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [DNS] france ditches magic number requirement
Re:Domaindisputeheats up



|> -----Original Message-----
|> From: dns-bounces+dassa=dhs.org§dotau.org
|> [mailto:dns-bounces+dassa=dhs.org§dotau.org] On Behalf Of Larry Bloch
|> Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 5:59 PM
|> To: '.au DNS Discussion List'
|> Subject: Re: [DNS] france ditches magic number requirement 
|> Re: Domaindisputeheats up
|> 
<SNIP>
|> Australia has 1.2m non AU domain names. Double the number of
|> .AU names. A far higher ratio than the three countries 
|> mentioned. Many may say 'so what'.
|> I think it's a scandal that our regulatory regime drives 
|> Australian businesses to register .com's over .AU's. 
|> Regardless of the relative merits, it is auDA's job to 
|> SUPPORT uptake of .AU for Australian's, no RETARD that 
|> uptake as it does.

I don't see the policy or rules from AuDA as having much of an impact for a
business deciding to go with .com rather than under .au, the biggest
incentive I see and hear about is the price.  Same for hosting in Australia
as opposed to hosting overseas, it is price that drives the market more than
anything.

If the Australian market had $5 or free domain names under .au I'm sure it
would leap ahead in bounds.  Would you like to start running loss leaders
and see if this isn't true?  It is what a lot of companies are doing in
other namespaces to build up the numbers.

I deal with a fair number of businesses and people, the majority of them
don't really understand the differences with the TLD's or how the namespaces
operate.  Getting more people investing in the .au namespace isn't about
changing the rules, it is about getting the consultants, the web designers,
the hosting companies and everyone else who advises business to recognise
the importance of the .au branding.  The policies and rules in place support
that branding.  What you advocate dilutes the brand.

Think of .au as a trademark if you wish.  Those who invest in sharing the
use of the trademark appreciate it as it is.  Those who don't already invest
just don't realise the potential as yet.  

Darryl (Dassa) Lynch 

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