1. The Big 3: .com, .net and .org
Although there has recently been some discussion about possible moves to restrict the .org top domain to non-profits, as was originally intended, the current situation is that all 3 of these domain name extensions are accessible to anyone, without restrictions, and are widely recognized around the world.

2. Country-level top domains (identified as such)
Most countries now have a matching top-level domain name, under which domains are sold (either directly, or with an intervening sub-domain such as .co. or .org.)

Prime examples include .fr (France), .jp (Japan - where .co.jp is also in widespread use) and .co.uk. These types of top-level domain name are generally under government control, adding a level of durability and permanence that a 3rd party might find hard to match (see next sub-section)

3. Country-level top domains (masquerading as something else)
Control over some country-level top domains has been ceded, either permanently or under contract, to various commercial organizations around the world. Many of these organizations don't exactly go out of their way to advertise the local origin of their domain names.

A prime example of this practice is the .tv top domain. While a perfectly legitimate top domain, it was in fact originally the top level domain reserved for the small Pacific island nation of Tuvalu. This fact is detailed in a small sub-section of the Company Overview, but nowhere else on the site.

NOTE: There's nothing wrong with these top-level domain names, but they are only international by "agreement" - the underlying system has them matched to a specific country. If the agreement with the country in question expires or is renegotiated - as happened, for instance, with the .tm domain of Turkmenistan, then users may be locked out of their domains or the top level domain put out of reach of new applicants.

4. Sub-domains (masquerading as something else)
As you may have seen elsewhere on this site, it is possible with the right configuration to set up an essentially infinite number of subdomains for any given domain name. Thus, for example, you can make the subdomains:-

• news.mylonganddulldomainname.com

• weather.mylonganddulldomainname.com

• sport.mylonganddulldomainname.com

• etc.

using "mylonganddulldomainname.com" as the starting point.

Now, you probably wouldn't expect to be charged for "news.mylonganddulldomainname.com" - in fact, in this case you probably wouldn't even use this domain if it was handed to you free on a plate!

And yet, there are a lot of companies in the business of selling "alternative" domain names which in practice are nothing more than subdomains of a single higher-level domain name. Again, as in the case of country-level subdomains sold as something else, the companies selling these types of domains don't go out of their way to explain their origins.

An example may clarify this further: Uk.co is selling domain names of the form something.uk.co. Looks OK at first glance, right? That's until you realize that ".co" is the top level domain name for the country of Colombia, and that all that is on sale is subdomains of "uk.co"

WARNING: While such "alternative" top domains are not inherently bad, they have one fundamental flaw when compared to the authorized top domains: they rely on a single domain name registration and a single company controlling that domain name registration. Comparing the case of .co.uk and .uk.co for example; with ".co.uk" control over the top level domain is at the national level, and the worst that can happen is that you could lose yourdomain.co.uk for non-payment or misuse. With ".uk.co", you're at the mercy of the owner of "uk.co" - if the company goes bankrupt, fails to renew the domain "uk.co" or for some reason loses control over it, then ALL the subdomains sold to ALL the customers go too!

5. Alternative top-level domain names (approved by ICANN)
ICANN is the international body that oversees and controls the allocation of top-level domains around the world. Recently, they allowed for the creation of seven new international (non-country-specific) domain names. These 7 new top domains are as follows:-

• .aero

• .biz

• .coop

• .info

• .museum

• .name

• .pro

There is a document on the ICANN site that summarises these 7 new top domains, their uses and limitations.

NOTE: The good thing about these new top domains is that they are officially recognized and so therefore they will "work" all over the world, in any browser or other software. (While you might expect that ALL domain names will work in all browsers, you'll see in the next few sections that this is not the case)

6. New.net domain names
Now the domain name picture starts to get REALLY blurred! Up until here, all the top-level domains (or sub-domains) have some official basis for their validity. New.net on the other hand is an uninvited guest at the domain name party - and like many uninvited guests, a few contortions are required to get entry.

Basically, the fundamental difference between New.net domains and regular domains is that New.net domains are NOT recognized at the Root DNS level. Gosh! Sounds bad, but what does that mouthful of technobabble mean in real life?

The mapping of domain names to IP addresses (which allows you to type in "Microsoft.com" into your browser yet have your computer - which speaks only numbers - communicate with Microsoft's servers) is done by a number of large servers scattered around the world.

If a domain name is in the Root DNS servers, it will resolve (that is, it can be translated into its IP address and therefore you can find the site). These Root DNS servers essentially act like dictionaries for domain names, translating them from text into numbers.

Now New.net domains are not officially recognized by ICANN and hence they're not allowed into the domain name dictionary, the Root DNS files. Just like you'll be stuck if you look up a word in a dictionary and find it missing, so browsers will be stuck trying to make sense of a New.net domain name and you will be unable to connect to the site you're trying to visit unless...

Yes, there had to be an "unless" otherwise New.net would be an impossible concept rather than just an improbable one! The get-around in this case is that IF your Internet Service Provider has installed some special software OR if you go to the New.net site and download some special software, you'll be able to resolve New.net domain names!

And if you and your ISP don't have this software installed, the New.net domain name won't work for you.

In practice, this means that the New.net domain names are a class of domain name that are only accessible to a fraction of the Web population! Here's the official "footnote" from the New.net site: "New.net domain names are accessible by persons that use one of our partner ISPs to access the Internet or who activate their browsers. This number is limited now, but growing daily."

Admittedly, New.net has forged some partnerships with pretty large companies, but you're still going to find that a minority of web users can actually resolve a given New.net domain name - and hence visit your site.

The attraction of New.net is that you suddenly have a whole swathe of new domain extensions, from .agent through .chat to .video, to play with. However, as we have seen, the very strong downside of the New.net domain name system is that it puts your domain name off-limit to the majority of the web population, not to mention the fact that since New.net domains are not officially sanctioned top domains, they are at the mercy of the solvency of New.net, Inc.

7. "Alternative" top domains

There are a number of companies in the "alternative" top domain business. Essentially, their systems work something like New.net in that additional changes or software are required to make their domain names resolve, except that generally unlike New.net they have not forged many (or any!) partnerships with ISPs and hosting firms, so that the number of people who can access these "alternative" top domains worldwide numbers in the hundreds or at most in the thousands.

Outrageous, we can almost hear you cry from here... well, as we stated in the introduction to this Guide, in the domain name industry as in every other industry, the rule of thumb is "buyer beware". If companies can successfully persuade customers to buy "alternative" domains that nobody can actually visit, that's their business - not getting trapped into buying one of these domain names yourself... now that suddenly becomes YOUR business!

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