The way we use internet suffixes (the “.com” or “.net” in web addresses we type to reach websites) may be changing…
About 2,000 proposals for new suffixes have been submitted, in the largest possible expansion of the URL address system since the internet was born. Google Inc. wants to add “.Google” and “.YouTube” to its sites, and others have requested “.doctor,” ”.music” and “.bank” to become options.
If approved, these additions would allow companies to have separate web addresses for each of their products (or brands). One day, you might go to “comedy.YouTube” rather than “YouTube.com/comedy.”
It’ll take at least a year or two, however, for ICANN (the organization reviewing the proposals) to approve these new suffixes, and it could be additional months for them to appear in use, especailly considering the expansion (already several years in the works), has already been delayed by more than a month this spring because of technical glitches with the application system.
The demand for new suffixes appears greater outside North America, because many of the “.com” names have already been claimed by Americans and Canadians who were lucky enough to have a reliable internet connection before those in other parts of the world. Also, suffixes had been largely limited to the 26 letters of the Roman alphabet until now (the proposals include some in languages using different alphabets).
But the question is: will this be better for internet users, or just be more to remember?