New domain names

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-4-26jun08-en.htm

ICANN yesterday agreed to start in 2009 with letting any word replace the ubiquitous ‘.com’ tag in internet addresses. Some articles stated that it will start a scramble for top-level domains with a preexisting high-attraction factor, ultimately causing businesses to buy thousands of domains to protect their internet turf.

What do you guys think? Do you really think a whole new frenzy will result?

The general public currently recognizes domain names around entity status (for profit, non-profit) and geography (country of origin). This is obviously shattered as now a host of new categorical structures will be applied with the new domain pairings. For example, www.hotsex.barnson is a sure winner in the new open domain name age.

Without putting too much thought into this, my feeling is that most people with a personal website won’t move to change or protect their internet position. I’m sure that some businesses will want to expand their digital territory to protect their https. New ventures will certainly want to take up interesting pairings to enhance notoriety.

Thoughts?