> FLAME ON (personal comment).
> 
> Sorry but I CANNOT let this pass.  Statements like this make a mockery of
> what the DNS is truly for!  Maybe I am old-fashioned/naive but in my book,
> the DNS is there for one primary purpose - to provide a unique mapping of
> hard to remember and possibly changing IP addresses to fixed and easy to

That may be fine but why do people clamour for cool.net and the.net and
other names that can only be categorised as total wank in the world of
the directory service. If the DNS were a pure mapping service then all
the vanity domians would not be needed(these are the things your company
makes good money from as a DNA). It is an image thing for some busineses.

If the direcory service were reality 1.2.2.3 would be ok !


> remember names.  People who place a value on names are fooling themselves,
> so talk of devalueing commercial name spaces is a nonsense.  

How about if the all of a sudden the 'value' of a space is diminished and
the present DNA does not see it worthwhile as continuing because of
undercutting by new names (IMHO this is competition). This is the
devaluing - when new market forces can upset the status quo leading to
perhaps (if we do not plan for it) outages in the system.

> How many people
> actually FIND a service based purely on the DNS name, and randomly try
> entering URLs to their favourite browser?  People get addresses from news
> postings or mail lists, or use search engines, and I am sure that smarter

If this was really the case then personalised domain names would not be
needed at all. I find this argument really hard to stomach when as I have
already said people do not do it this way.
This has been expressed in many of the DNS forums but it just not the way
it is happening. It is funny that the people who have made this comment in
the past make much marketting folly from the promotion of their own
domains :

aust.com, aus.com , on.net, sa.com.au 

> directory-style tools will continue to emerge, so it is just a matter of
> putting the right keywords into postings or web pages, and not grabbing
> clever DNS name(s).
> 

It is only a single part of group or companies strategy for their Internet
presence. Directory searches are another part along with many others.
Domain names though are the most identifiable way to check a companys
presence on the net.

> I believe that companies *do* have a right to an indentity on the net for
> e-mail addresses, etc., and they do have similer/clashing names, so one of
> the purposes for more 2LDs is ensure that people can obtain a suitable name
> without expensive legal action against someone who already has 'their' name.
> All this does is leave everyone poorer (except the lawyers).

The arguments against not having more 2Ld are in my opinion very poor as
they ussually contradict previous statements. FOr example if these new
emerging directory services are so important then why does it matter if I
have a domain name that is frog.senet.company.sa.au - surely the 'great
directory' service will mean that all the user has to do is to bookmark my
site or store my address anyway they go.

So if we do or we don't then what does it really matter - the directory
service will pick you up anyhow.

If directories are to be the saviour they have a long way to go for
reality sakes. Try selling a package to a customer that does not have
strong linking to their business with the promise that the search engine
and directry services will take care of you - wink, nudge !!!


> The cost of a domain name should be based around providing and maintaining
> the service and should have nothing to do with some instrinsic value placed
> on a name as such ('a rose by any other name'?).  Sure, people pay big bucks
> for clever '13' numbers, but this has nothing to do with the issues around
> creation of extra 2LDs, which is all about overcrowding of com.au, getting
> an identity, and providing a competitive environment.
> 
> 


Stephen Baxter                            SE Network Access
SE Network Access                         http://www.senet.com.au
Direct Internet Access                    222 Grote Street
phone : +61 8 8221 5221                   Adelaide 5000
fax   : +61 8 8221 5220

<http://www.senet.com.au/~steve/pgp.html for Public Key>