The .com domain is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
With much fanfare Verisign is having a celebration to honor the most popular domain extension to date and the industry that it spawned; Bill Clinton, MoRocca and Arianna Huffington are slated to speak at the Verisign event honoring the 3 letters that pay many of our salaries.
Some industries, such as the telephone, have seen a reduction not just from cell phones, but because more people now communicate via online mediums rather than picking up a land-line phone.
This has not stopped the phone industry from purchasing domain names and websites however. We could possibly even see phone company extensions in the future such as .bell or .sprint?
Along these lines, other domains that seek to get their own domains in the industry have made the news lately.
Canon for example announced its intention to register “.canon” when ICANN gives its final approval to allow virtually unlimited tlds.
The argument could be made either way about whether this change will simplify or complicate online enforcement.
Consider for example the .xxx domain and the possible ramifications of allowing that extension to exist?
A global Internet oversight agency on Friday deferred a decision until June on whether to create a “.xxx” Internet suffix as a virtual online red-light district.
Some opponents suggest that it could legitimize pornography sites, while proponents believe that it could prevent accidental traffic and create the security from viewing pornography that many opponents seek.
Further to the security desire, the e-crime division of the UK’s Serious and Organised Crime Agency, said the proposals formerly introduced the idea that “mandatory minimum standards” should be imposed on domain name registries when they were accredited by ICANN.
This would essentially remove the anonymity of domain ownership.
Personally, I see the massive potential for abuse unless there are watchdog agencies similar to ICANN with the power to regulate, enforce and oversee possible police abuses.
There is a term for things ran by the police, and that term is “Police State”.
I am not sure that anyone, short of the police, believes that is a good idea.
Moving on, Lets look at how we got from .com to .cannon:
In 1992, fewer than 15,000 .com domains existed, now there are 84 million domain names.
According to a recent survey 81 percent of Americans visit five or more dotcom websites a day while two-thirds visit between five and 25 dotcom websites a day.
One in five persons reported finding a job on a dotcom site while six percent said they met their spouse or significant through a dotcom website.
I know that personally I owe the last 10 years of employment to the internet myself.
The annual economic benefits of the commercial Internet equal $1.5 trillion.
This figure is suggested to be “more than the global sales of medicine, investment in renewable energy and government investment in R&D combined.”
In addition, the Internet should add $3.8 trillion to the global economy by 2020.
From a timeline standpoint, here are the first 100 registered .com domains. As a point to note, the first 6 companies registered their dotcom names with DARPA, the Pentagon technology research agency which was behind the precursor to the Internet.
1. 15 Mar 1985 Symbolics.com
2. 24 Apr 1985 BBN.com
3. 24 May 1985 Think.com
4. 11 Jul 1985 MCC.com
5. 30 Sep 1985 DEC.com
6. 07 Nov 1985 Northrop.com
7. 09 Jan 1986 Xerox.com
8. 17 Jan 1986 SRI.com
9. 03 Mar 1986 HP.com
10. 05 Mar 1986 Bellcore.com
11. 19 Mar 1986 IBM.com
11. 19 Mar 1986 Sun.com
13. 25 Mar 1986 Intel.com
13. 25 Mar 1986 TI.com
15. 25 Apr 1986 ATT.com
16. 08 May 1986 GMR.com
16. 08 May 1986 TEK.com
18. 10 Jul 1986 FMC.com
18. 10 Jul 1986 UB.com
20. 05 Aug 1986 Bell-ATL.com
20. 05 Aug 1986 GE.com
20. 05 Aug 1986 Grebyn.com
20. 05 Aug 1986 ISC.com
20. 05 Aug 1986 NSC.com
20. 05 Aug 1986 Stargate.com
26. 02 Sep 1986 Boeing.com
27. 18 Sep 1986 ITCorp.com
28. 29 Sep 1986 Siemens.com
29. 18 Oct 1986 Pyramid.com
30. 27 Oct 1986 AlphaCDC.com
30. 27 Oct 1986 BDM.com
30. 27 Oct 1986 Fluke.com
30. 27 Oct 1986 Inmet.com
30. 27 Oct 1986 Kesmai.com
30. 27 Oct 1986 Mentor.com
30. 27 Oct 1986 NEC.com
30. 27 Oct 1986 Ray.com
30. 27 Oct 1986 Rosemount.com
30. 27 Oct 1986 Vortex.com
40. 05 Nov 1986 Alcoa.com
40. 05 Nov 1986 GTE.com
42. 17 Nov 1986 Adobe.com
42. 17 Nov 1986 AMD.com
42. 17 Nov 1986 DAS.com
42. 17 Nov 1986 Data IO.com
42. 17 Nov 1986 Octopus.com
42. 17 Nov 1986 Portal.com
42. 17 Nov 1986 Teltone.com
42. 11 Dec 1986 3Com.com
50. 11 Dec 1986 Amdahl.com
50. 11 Dec 1986 CCUR.com
50. 11 Dec 1986 CI.com
50. 11 Dec 1986 Convergent.com
50. 11 Dec 1986 DG.com
50. 11 Dec 1986 Peregrine.com
50. 11 Dec 1986 Quad.com
50. 11 Dec 1986 SQ.com
50. 11 Dec 1986 Tandy.com
50. 11 Dec 1986 TTI.com
50. 11 Dec 1986 Unisys.com
61. 19 Jan 1987 CGI.com
61. 19 Jan 1987 CTS.com
61. 19 Jan 1987 SPDCC.com
64. 19 Feb 1987 Apple.com
65. 04 Mar 1987 NMA.com
65. 04 Mar 1987 Prime.com
67. 04 Apr 1987 Philips.com
68. 23 Apr 1987 Datacube.com
68. 23 Apr 1987 Kai.com
68. 23 Apr 1987 TIC.com
68. 23 Apr 1987 Vine.com
72. 30 Apr 1987 NCR.com
73. 14 May 1987 Cisco.com
73. 14 May 1987 RDL.com
75. 20 May 1987 SLB.com
76. 27 May 1987 ParcPlace.com
76. 27 May 1987 UTC.com
78. 26 Jun 1987 IDE.com
79. 09 Jul 1987 TRW.com
80. 13 Jul 1987 Unipress.com
81. 27 Jul 1987 Dupont.com
81. 27 Jul 1987 Lockheed.com
83. 28 Jul 1987 Rosetta.com
84. 18 Aug 1987 Toad.com
85. 31 Aug 1987 Quick.com
86. 03 Sep 1987 Allied.com
86. 03 Sep 1987 DSC.com
86. 03 Sep 1987 SCO.com
89. 22 Sep 1987 Gene.com
89. 22 Sep 1987 KCCS.com
89. 22 Sep 1987 Spectra.com
89. 22 Sep 1987 WLK.com
93. 30 Sep 1987 Mentat.com
94. 14 Oct 1987 WYSE.com
95. 02 Nov 1987 CFG.com
96. 09 Nov 1987 Marble.com
97. 16 Nov 1987 Cayman.com
97. 16 Nov 1987 Entity.com
99. 24 Nov 1987 KSR.com
100. 30 Nov 1987 NynexST.com
Also as a side effect, the domain names became somewhat of a commodity and became more valuable than the $10 average purchase
price. What would Google, Dell or any other online dependent business pay for their domain name now?
Here are a few answers to that question:
1. $9,999,950 Fund.com
2. $9,500,000 Porn.com
3. $7,500,000 Business.com
3. $7,500,000 Diamond.com
5. $7,000,000 Beer.com
6. $5,500,000 Casino.com
7. $5,100,000 Toys.com
8. $5,000,000 AsSeenOnTV.com
8. $5,000,000 Korea.com
10. $4,900,000 Clothes.com
11. $3,850,000 YP.com
12. $3,500,000 Shop.com
13. $3,300,000 Altavista.com
13. $3,300,000 Wine.com
15. $3,200,000 Software.com
16. $3,000,000 Candy.com
16. $3,000,000 Loans.com
16. $3,000,000 Vodka.com
16. $3,000,000 CreditCheck.com
20. $2,900,000 Wines.com
21. $2,858,945 Shopping.de
22. $2,750,000 CreditCards.com
23. $2,500,000 Tom.com
24. $2,200,000 Autos.com
24. $2,200,000 Coupons.com
26. $2,100,000 Computer.com
27. $1,900,000 Savings.com
28. $1,800,000 Express.com
28. $1,800,000 Mortgage.com
28. $1,800,000 Seniors.com
31. $1,760,000 Fly.com
32. $1,750,000 Telephone.com
33. $1,700,000 Auction.com
34. $1,659,000 DataRecovery.com
35. $1,600,000 Branson.com
36. $1,525,000 Ticket.com
37. $1,500,000 Cameras.com
37. $1,500,000 Deposit.com
37. $1,500,000 Russia.com
37. $1,500,000 Tandberg.com
As with most everything 25 years down the road, the end product vaguely resembles the original.
Given the current trend, the Internet may change so much over the next year we may not recognize it over its current incarnation.
One thing that never changes, is that whenever someone figures out a way to make money, at least double that many people will figure out a way to steal it or capitalize upon that good name.
If you have problems with people capitalizing on your name or making it difficult for you to do so yourself, you don’t need to register a new extension with ICANN; Metamend has dedicated online reputation management and can help you protect your online identity.
Have a question and need quick answers? 
