Millions of outrageously crap domains like 'cyber-cuff-links.com' and 'xflmp.org' were indeed bought up by dim corporations, starry-eyed garage dingbats, and freelance hoodlums--and those poor beasts will be put down. However, if you're going to start a company (as humans wilt in their pesky will to survive), in ANY trade category--not just tech, then the intuitive dot-com and website are cost-of-entry. This is a fact, unless you sell hotdogs off of a cart, and wish to continue so to do. Just try picking a new company name and finding 1) a 'brandable,' aka not-conspicuously-dumb-sounding, dot-com that 2) has no other users to give you trademark problems in any of the one or two other countries rumoured to be on Earth, and 3) which doesn't mean 'armpit' in German, etc. You're looking at a steadily smallering pool of names held tight by lifer speculators who aren't going under as quickly as you'd like. The most pallid and porridge-assed will definitely weather this recession. Half because we believe dot-coms are profitable, and half because our collections are made of five fervid years of all-nighters. We'll sell all of our pre-4/2000 toys, steal kidneys, whatever, just to stay at the wheel, and sorry, but another fun-seeker will just take up the slack if we die (or worse yet, expire). Resent us? Dot-coms are (effectively) property, to be sold and resold, used and reused. People are given to selling property for profit--this is not Reuters material. I don't go up to your front door and say 'Hey, you're not using that spare bedroom, Satan. Howzabout me and my irrationally self-righteous boyfriend moving in?' It should be evident that speculators, not all of whom are TM infringers (very few actually, since 11/99's ACPA), are the only reason that there are any worthwhile dot-coms open for purchase at all. Most smart, sizeable corps own thouuusands of domains in a standard and quite affordable policy towards sucking market share and snuffing future competitors. Every domain one of their minions dreams up over the years, or any which are passingly relevant to their trade (or your future business idea)--all into a black hole. So stop yer preening, and if you're tossing that dot-com out with the bathwater, I'm buying.
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Millions of outrageously crap domains like 'cyber-cuff-links.com' and 'xflmp.org' were indeed bought up by dim corporations, starry-eyed garage dingbats, and freelance hoodlums--and those poor beasts will be put down. However, if you're going to start a company (as humans wilt in their pesky will to survive), in ANY trade category--not just tech, then the intuitive dot-com and website are cost-of-entry. This is a fact, unless you sell hotdogs off of a cart, and wish to continue so to do. Just try picking a new company name and finding 1) a 'brandable,' aka not-conspicuously-dumb-sounding, dot-com that 2) has no other users to give you trademark problems in any of the one or two other countries rumoured to be on Earth, and 3) which doesn't mean 'armpit' in German, etc. You're looking at a steadily smallering pool of names held tight by lifer speculators who aren't going under as quickly as you'd like. The most pallid and porridge-assed will definitely weather this recession. Half because we believe dot-coms are profitable, and half because our collections are made of five fervid years of all-nighters. We'll sell all of our pre-4/2000 toys, steal kidneys, whatever, just to stay at the wheel, and sorry, but another fun-seeker will just take up the slack if we die (or worse yet, expire). Resent us? Dot-coms are (effectively) property, to be sold and resold, used and reused. People are given to selling property for profit--this is not Reuters material. I don't go up to your front door and say 'Hey, you're not using that spare bedroom, Satan. Howzabout me and my irrationally self-righteous boyfriend moving in?' It should be evident that speculators, not all of whom are TM infringers (very few actually, since 11/99's ACPA), are the only reason that there are any worthwhile dot-coms open for purchase at all. Most smart, sizeable corps own thouuusands of domains in a standard and quite affordable policy towards sucking market share and snuffing future competitors. Every domain one of their minions dreams up over the years, or any which are passingly relevant to their trade (or your future business idea)--all into a black hole. So stop yer preening, and if you're tossing that dot-com out with the bathwater, I'm buying.