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16 Mar 2010 23:43

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Biz: Canon wants a .canon top-level domain; this is a stupid idea.

  • Canon is sure an arrogant company. They think, for some reason, that they’re worthy of their own top-level domain, unlike every other company out there. We think this is really stupid, because, well, their top-level domain opens up the possibility of a .cocacola or a .southoftheborder, which means that what’s a fairly simple domain structure becomes unspeakably complex.
  • bad standardThe reason why top-level domains work well as-is, mostly, is because they create an open environment. By getting their own top-level domain, Canon creates a walled garden separate from the rest of the Web.
  • Is it really easier? Canon seems convinced that it’s easier to type in my.canon (or whatever) than it is to type in canon.com. People have been typing canon.com for 15 years; changing it makes it harder. It’s branding gone amok.
  • showing restraint To us, this idea suggests a need to figure out just when the best time would be to pull out the generalized top level domains. Because it appears Canon’s taking a road down a slippery slope with this move.

.canon domains we’d like to see

  • » pachelbels.canon: One of the most well-known pieces of music is Pachelbel’s Canon, and that’s been around way longer than Canon has.
  • » isthis.furry.buffyfanfic.canon: The main definition of “canon” refers to whether something is part of a story’s universe. And you could probably have fun with it, too.
  • » potato.canon: Some jokers will probably come up with clever uses of the TLD, although if they’re like this, they’ll totally be wrong, because “cannon” has two N’s.
  • » myprintersucks.itsmadeby.canon: If Canon really wanted to be bold with this idea, they’d let people buy dissenting domains that criticize both the brand and its products.

22 Dec 2009 08:17

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World: Many Russians not so hot on the idea of Cryillic domain names

  • This is one more step toward isolation. And since this is a Kremlin project, it is possible that it will lead to the introduction of censorship, which is something that certain officials have long sought.
  • Tula, Russia, construction engineer Aleksei Larin, 31 • Regarding his dislike of the idea of Cyrillic domain names, an idea that carries more currency with leadership (who have long-disliked the hold English has had on the Web) than it does with people. Others support the idea due to the city-centric nature of Russian internet use, but others – mainly companies – just don’t see the point. source

09 Aug 2009 11:51

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Tech, World: The fight for saving the environment goes top-level domain

  • .eco if you were an eco group, you’d want this, too source