[wg-c] On IBM's "proliferation of signposts" concern

[werner@axone.ch (Werner Staub)]

Craig,

Thank you for your summary. I agree with most of what you say, and 
would merely like to elaborate on one point:

> From a technical standpoint 'It ain't broke yet, so there's nothing to fix.' But
> from a social standpoint, many people think things are definitely broken,
> arguing they can be fixed by implementing various new gTLD models.

In my view, there is a lot to fix, call it technical or social. Not fixing
it costs billions of dollars in lost revenue to the players who are 
currently afraid of new TLDs.

This how, during the WG-C meeting, I tried to address IBM's "proliferation 
of sign-posts" concern as explained by Roger Cocchetti. Of course my
explanation was unclear, so I tried to be clear this time. I will use
Roger Cochetti's metaphor to point out that IBM is the first to loose 
billions of dollars in revenue because of the delay in launching
new gTLDs. 

   Roger's metaphor: the Internet is a highway. Domain names are 
   signposts. Add an undisputed fact: The Internet is a highway where 
   anybody can build a connecting road at low cost.  Conclude:
   Connecting roads without an *organised* and *diversified* system
   of signposts are useless. In other words, requiring that all 
   signposts be green, or end in .com, does not avoid confusion. 

We do have the confusion now. We work in a flat name space with 
maximum potential for confusion. This severely limits the 
accessibility of new services. This costs billions of dollars in
lost revenue to IBM, to ATT, to Worldcom, to all of us. I am not
saying this is the main concern, but it is one.


Regards,

Werner

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