Re: Conflict resolution?

[chris@hal.iodesign.com (Christopher Ambler)]

>(There is nothing wrong with making lots of 
>money on the net, of course.  But we certainly don't owe it to you.)

Absolutely, and this has been my position all along. But when the body
in charge tells one what to do, and one does it, does not one have a
right to a reasonable expectation of adherance to promises made?

Really, I'm the first one to admit that I'm in it for profit: it's a
business, after all. But I'm also in it for the good of the Internet, and
I truely believe that many registries with exclusive iTLDs is a very
reasonable solution. It's what IANA initially proposed and was accepting
applications on, after all. It will allow the market to decide, and
provided that there are sufficient companies wishing to be registries
(which seems fairly obvious now), there won't be any "monopolistic"
problems. Market viability is 50% the TLD chosen (and there are plenty
of good ones) and 50% price and service. We intend to set the market
standard on both counts - but it's our money on the line, and our risk,
as it should be.

The shared model has its merits, and I think it should be implemented
for those registries wishing to use it. I would be happy to use it
for iTLDs other than .WEB. It makes a lot of sense for smaller
registries, who would benefit from cooperative marketing of the
shared iTLDs. Hell, we would probably kick in more than our share
of the cost of that marketing, truth be told! But to mandate sharing,
and, bluntly, take away the property for which we were asked to
apply and were given acceptance, would be considered very unfair and
harmful at this point. Again, I cannot help what the IANA chose to
do, but ignoring it at this point would be reckless.

Now, if that's all to be changed, then so be it. But then there are a
large number of business concerns who will feel as if they have been
wronged. Controversy either way - I'm just trying to make my point as
best I can, and represent the best interests of my company while working 
to hold those in charge to their promises. Apparently, I am pissing off 
some people in the process. For that, I apologize.

--
Christopher Ambler
President, Image Online Design, Inc.
Yes, I do speak for my company.