So, the top-level domain registration process has been opened up and you can now grab anything you like – just as long as you can put a decent business case to Icann, that is, and pay the whopping $100,000 registration fee. Oh, and buy and run all the expensive, power-hungry servers and hardware necessary to host it.

It seems unlikely that I will be grabbing www.matthew.sparkes anytime soon; I doubt I could recoup my costs by renting domains out to members of the Sparkes clan.

When you think about it, it’s unlikely that anyone will be making the switch. PC Pro isn’t going to splash out $100,000 on a new address when that money could be better spent elsewhere; fixing the broken kettle, hiring a new staff writer and perhaps installing some kind of fireman’s pole down to the bottom floor (its just a rough plan so far, it might need work).

The costs are just too high. Icann claims that it needs to pay the $10 million costs that will arise from creating the new registration process, but will it even attract the 100 necessary registrants?

It’s likely that .porn, .xxx and .exposed-ankles (Darien’s suggestion) and their ilk will be the only ones submitted, and Icann has said that it might reject applications on moral grounds. We’ll see what it decides when most of the applicants are smutty and it needs the cash.

Thanks to andrec for the image.