Re: Thread 5: Defining the namespace

[Michael Dillon <michael@memra.com>]

On Thu, 26 Dec 1996, Simon Higgs wrote:

> > .COM and .EDU were created by people who didn't fully understand the
> > implications of attempting to carve up the namespace.
> 
> I don't think you really meant that.

Sure I did. You can ask them if they ever imagined that .COM would become
so popular and be the number one choice even for many non-commercial
organizations and individuals. The people who created .COM and .EDU were
thinking from a mostly technical standpoint and didn't really take
sociology and anthropology into account.

> > This can be clearly
> > seen when you understand that .COM contains registrations for educational
> > institions, non-commercial charitable organizations, military
> > organizations, etc. In effect, .COM has become synonymous with COMMON
> > not with COMMERCIAL.
> 
> Commercial. Commerce. Business. Growth. Expansion. Any of that sound familiar?

Commerce also means bankruptcy, unemployment, bad debts, lost market
share, strikes, industrial espionage, lawsuits, and many other things.

Still, this doesn't change the fact that .COM has come to be synonymous
with COMMON.


Michael Dillon                   -               Internet & ISP Consulting
Memra Software Inc.              -                  Fax: +1-604-546-3049
http://www.memra.com             -               E-mail: michael@memra.com