Re: The view from my window

[Joe Kelsey <joe@zircon.seattle.wa.us>]

Paul Ezra Kautz writes:
 > Dave Crocker:
 > >> > > 	Why does the TLD need to be an exclusive assignment?
 > Simon Higgs:
 > >> > Use and purpose. Why is .GOV exclusive?
 > Perry Metzger:
 > >> Historical accident. No more like it are likely to be created.
 > Simon Higgs:
 > >Nicely missed! That's exactly what RFC1591 says. Now here *YOU* are
 > >creating new TLDs. Historical contradiction?
 > We actually have a FED.US now, with significant users. I once tried 
 > mailing a GOV SA about migrating there. I haven't received any
 > answer.

It is amazing how stubborn some domain users can be. The State of
Washington somehow or other managed to get wa.gov before the restriction
to U.S. Federal agencies was imposed. Now, all communication with them
about changing to wa.us gets completely ignored or else answered with a
``we're thinking about it...'' They could even run wa.us and wa.gov out
of the exact same BIND data files in parallel!

Also, Metropolitan King County (home of Seattle and the King Dome!) used
to be an inter-governmental agency comprised of the multiple city and
(single) county governments. This was recently eliminated and all
functions taken over by King County Government. However, many years ago,
Metro acquired the domain metrokc.gov. If you were looking for King
County government in Washington State, wouldn't you assume
co.king.wa.us? Who would ever think of metrokc.gov? Yet they also refuse
to even consider changing this incredibly bad domain name. You can reach
Seattle at ci.seattle.wa.us, but the county is nowhere to be found.

It is a good idea to phase out .gov, but I don't see it happening soon.

/Joe