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

[Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>]

On Tue, Aug 03, 1999 at 09:14:39PM -0700, Roeland M.J. Meyer wrote:
> 
> 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. 

You completely misunderstand the problem -- it has nothing at all to do 
with changing nameservers.  The problem is that domain names are embedded 
in URLs, and URLs are embedded in millions of web pages all over the net.  
Indeed you can change your nameservers, but you can't go out and find every 
single web page that points to you and change the embedded URL.  For a 
company like amazon the links are in the hundreds of thousands.  Those 
links are amazons lifeblood, they are a tremendous asset, they represent 
real concrete good-will - someone felt good enough about amazon to link to 
it. If amazon changes domain names, those links are all dead dead dead, and 
that value goes down the drain in a flash.

That's where the lockin comes from.

> 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.
> 

-- 
Kent Crispin                               "Do good, and you'll be
kent@songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain