Morning Folks!!
The .co deal is going to have a LOT of unintended consequences imo. Today will be the first time folks even hear about it. 99.99% of folks on the planet don't know it exists. Some MAY know tonight. THEIR reaction, lack of one or even anger will decide many things.
Anger? Don't underestimate that possible backlash when MILLIONS of businesses find out their .co has been grabbed. They might not be happy campers.
Registrars may have their own set of problems if the average guy thinks he is getting a .com and ends up with a .co. But that is small and manageable.
One thing for sure, the lawyers are going to be very busy and the crossfire will be like nothing we have ever experienced. No press release can cover what everyone knows is about to happen. All hell is about to break loose.
If you ask 'Was this foreseen?' Then I say yes. Will it matter? I guess that is the gamble everyone is taking. But this could create quite a backfire if things go south. Many questions even if a great success.
Either way, congratulations to all and good luck. We are going to be in for an interesting ride no matter how it unfolds. Let's hope domainers don't get bitten in the ass with this like some businesses will be bitten in the ass with Social Media. This will rip the scab off the 'Cybersquatter' debate and may have ripples that go further than .co as over reaction is certain to follow.
It is not about what we think. It is about how the average guy perceives it and that is predictable but unknown at this moment. It may not be known for a while as it has to 'Ferment' in people's minds and their positions evolve. That evolution could go either way. But strong head winds would not be surprising at all. And crosswinds will be frequent and even more unpredictable.
And for the hundreds or even thousands of .Whatevers.....This canary in this mine may be your future destiny. Without the crosswinds, without the controversy and without a SuperBowl commercial.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
Gazzip
“One thing for sure, the lawyers are going to be very busy and the crossfire will be like nothing we have ever experienced.”
Yep, If it goes tits up it’ll be bigger than Superbowl ;)
Rich
Mostly likely, the Federal government will start making getting more involved. Organizations of all sizes recognize this as a form of blackmail, where they must register the economically meaningless .co in order to proactively guard against typos and cybersquatters. The public on the other hand will be at the mercy of cease and desist orders. In both cases, it seems like it will end up in the courts and legislative bodies will have to deal with it. I am looking for either the N.Y. or Connecticut Attorney General to be the first to start looking into this.
steven
Just saw this great quote from Juan Diego Calle, founder and CEO of .CO Internet
“I want to reaffirm our commitment to monitor, enforce, and develop the necessary safeguards against cyber-squatting and all other forms of domain name abuse, as those threats continue to evolve.”
What a bunch of crap.
How many of the top 1000 .com sites are registered in .co and going to parked pages?
An example….craigslist.co
sideliner
And they thought IDN lookalike Cryllic letters were going to cause confusion….but ICANN put together a fix for that.
This .co mess is going to be a real tough one with potentially a lot of litigation once companies start looking at traffic bleed and potential loss of customers and revenues.
Robert Cline
Excellent points but I don’t think .co will catch on. The king is .com. All other extensions will be worth no more than reg fee once the hype dies down.
JMHO.
BullShitWebsites
After the chili, pizza, greasy fried wings and gallons of beer, —
say what…..co what??
Nobody knows what co is with all the freaking beer/alcohol and sex during that game.
todaro
god bless us all… everyone. i mean except icaan.
AlanR
As a speculator, I feel bad for my fellow speculators, especially the ones in the domain business, when they lose at a gamble. The gamble isn’t lost yet with .co but I would bet that .co will be another extension that fails to meet anyone’s expectations. I’ve seen it happen with all extensions that were hyped up. Not one has really ever succeeded to the point where it justifies the investment when a person could have taken that same money and time and put it into buying more dotcoms or developed the ones they already have.
I would bet that Bob Parsons is having second thoughts right now about running the .co ad since all these things about .co are coming to light. Most companies have a backup ad ready to air for those”just in case moments” so he would be smart to just run his basic GoDaddy ad. Since GD is the world’s biggest registrar, they would be wise to disassociate themselves from .co and all the potential problems it could bring.
em
@ alanr,
Why should GoDaddy care? They sell registrations, that’s it. It will truly be less of a problem than you think. Adaptation is an essential part of life because tides change. Nothing is exactly how it was before. Just a fact.
The ones with the most difficulties will be ones who registered someone else’s wellknown company name. It will be gone in a blink.
@Robert Cline
Funny, but I think we may have an imposter.
WhatAJoke
The extension is a joke and a fraud. It has ZERO chance of ever becoming legitimate. I hope you idiots are proud about getting involved in this stupid ass extension.
How can domainers ever expect to be taken seriouslly when something like .co is allowed to happen. How can the leaders in the domain industry not stand up and call it a fraud from day one.
Shame on Go-Daddy for being involved in the scam, too. You fucking clowns just don’t get it. This is not good for domains, not good for domainers, and not good business in any sense of the word.
Morons!
Michael Hallisey
Who wants to change over to dot co anyway it doesn’t fill right and I like dot com!
WhatADumbCommerical
What a stupid commercial. Major league retarded. The public will think it is a joke. Beyond horrible, dumb, and idiotic.