Re: [ga] Karl's comments at the 2003 Senate hearings on allocation systems

[sotiris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

<snip>
> ICANN's glacial, and extremely expensive, processes
> have not only failed to meet even the smallest portion
> of the demand for new TLDs,

How does one measure the "demand for new TLDs"?  Who is demanding the new
TLDs?  Is the average internet user demanding new TLDs or is it a
relatively small group of people who have some personal stake/interest in
mind?  Frankly, the last thing I hear from my clients is that there should
be more TLDs in the namespace, indeed many of them are confused by the
existing TLDs and their function(s).  Further, when they are disappointed
in finding their first choice in a .com domain available for registration,
they usually (though disappointedly) settle for it in the ccTLD if it's
available; but every one of my clients prefers a .com domain before any
other.  Indeed, most usually try permutations of their company name to get
something in the .com TLD they can live with RATHER than going with a .biz
or ccTLD registration that may better fit their brand/naming
requirement(s).

So, once more, how do we guage demand for, and who is demanding new gTLDs?

Sotiris Sotiropoulos