RE: Re[4]: [wg-c] Re: IP/TM Concerns & New GTLDs

["Roeland M.J. Meyer" <rmeyer@mhsc.com>]

> From: owner-wg-c@dnso.org [mailto:owner-wg-c@dnso.org]On
> Behalf Of Kent Crispin
> Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 1999 1:23 PM

> The CORE registry was designed to compete with NSI.  It cost, in
> *very* round numbers, about $1M.  On the other hand, Nominet is a
> completely successful effort, built originally for much less than
> $1M, and it does fine.  That's because REGISTRIES ARE NATURAL
> MONOPOLIES.  It isn't necessary to be the size of NSI to make a
> comfortable iving for the rest of your life.  Small registries are
> perfectly viable as businesses.  Most of the chartered TLDs I
> mentioned in my earlier post could never hope to compete with NSI,
> because they have limited appeal.  But they are natural monopolies,
> and can do just fine completely independent of NSI.  Owning such a
> registry would be *wonderful* -- it would be like having your own
> little private goldmine.  I completely understand why people would
> get so attached to the idea -- I certainly wouldn't mind owning a
> nice, benevolent little monopoly, all my own.

Excuse me if I say that this is naive. If business were this easy we
*wouldn't* have so many millionaires. It's a PITA to change all of your
nameservers ovre, but it only has to be done in a few limited places. It
may actually be easier than an IP renumber. Ergo, no lock-in and no
monopoly. If it were part of the requirements, for a host to do this,
then it would shortly be even easier, as thousands of SysAdmins work on
the problem, one night. However, when it comes to branding issues, it
might be a problem for some, but not for others. It depends upon the
marketing plan. But, what one marketing plan builds, another can rip
asunder. Also remember that the users outnumber us, millions to one.