Re: .rec, .arts etc

["andi payn" <payn@null.net>]

>Hello ladies and gentlemen,
>
>I'm just wondering when .arts, .travel, .info etc will become
>available. Any idea of a ballpark date? Thanks.

That depends.

First of all, I have a feeling that some RSC out there has declared
ownership of those names and they're already available, if you don't mind
only a small fraction of the Internet being able to see your site.

Second, assuming that the gTLD-MoU does go through and get its domains into
the traditional root servers (and thus universally accessible), they're
probably not going to have ".travel" in the original TLDs (although it's
always possible, since there is a current request for comments open to the
public). They do plan on having .arts, .rec, and .info available in the
initial set (again, the RFC could lead to a change here too).

The hard question is, when will the MoU's domains be available?

At present, it appears that they're going to wait until CORE is constituted
(which means waiting until 15Oct for registrar applications to close, then
verifying all applicants, then legally constituting the council), and then
contract out to someone to build the software and the system that they'll
need. At that rate, it looks like late January 1998 to early March 1998 is a
good ballpark.

As many people have pointed out, a "test" system could be put on line at
nearly a moment's notice, and then gradually converted to a final system
between now and March 1998. If you're interested in this, you should follow
the proceedings and suggest this to iPOC and CORE.

So the short answer is, if you want a universally-available domain under
.arts, .rec, or .info, it's probably about three to six months away.