PoorDoggie

there are cctlds such as:
.in with .co.in
.ck with .co.ck (ahem...)

and there is .co.uk, but I cant seem to find a .uk... can you register .uk domains? Thanks

Tom

dc1pop

i think .uk is planned to be released in the future.

clemzonguy

It has been discussed, recently denied, but eventually will be released. I assume Afilias will want to put their hand in this cookie jar after a while after their recent .IN business venture.

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BrokeringDomains.com

FanCube

.uk domains can currently only be registered for governmental use such as police.uk but I guess that .uk will be released to the public within a few years.

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UNICEF
UGB.net

andersdb

co.uk is the third most popular extension in the world (after .com and .de). Within the uk companies have invested billions of pounds developing and marketing co.uk and it is now the most widely used and advertised extension in the uk. Other extensions such as org.uk and gov.uk are also well used and Nominet can control the release of future extensions under .uk. Nominet recently rejected the setting up of .uk. Legal battles could result between the owners of existing domains under co.uk, org.uk and the other extensions.

IMHO .uk will consequently never be released as an extension and will continue to be dominated by co.uk, org.uk and other extensions under .uk.

PoorDoggie

thanks all, just one more question:

can nominet then go on and say that you can purchace any .**.uk domain?

ie: can they say they want to release .my.uk domain names? or .com.uk domain names? or are they restricted to .co.uk, org.uk and the other .**.uk domains?

andersdb

Nominet can release any domain they want and have released some such as me.uk, net.uk, police.uk and sch.uk. I dont think Nominet would ever give up this control over the .uk extension.

PoorDoggie

heh heh... I wouldn't!

Thanks all!

mole

That is why the Sunrise period is there for, just like for the upcoming .EU later this year.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/70626-any-such-thing-as-uk-domains.html

I suspect a lot of businesses will worry more for their .EU extension and willl fight legal battles if necessary since it makes then seem very insular without it.

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If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties. Sir Francis Bacon

PoorDoggie

when is the .eu domain coming out? do you think that people are more likely to be using .eu than other ccTlds, because at the moment businesses mainly use either .co.uk or .com?

andersdb

IMHO the .eu domain will be of little interest to businesses, developers or consumers in the uk. Anyone who has spent time in the uk will know that co.uk is the most widely used and accepted extension here. It gives people the confidence that they are dealing with a uk based English speaking business. An .eu domain could be seen as a foreign based business and possibly non English speaking, which could be of little interest to uk consumers.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=70626

Re a 'sunrise period' for .uk, who would get the domain if trademarks were held on the same name eg 'somebusiness.uk' in different areas of business by distinct companies/entitities presently operating under: co.uk, org.uk, net.uk, plc.uk etc. Each entity could claim the .uk, as they held a trademark and had already invested in establishing a web prescence. This could lead to thousands of competing legal claims.

IMHO for these reasons, among others, .uk will never be released and the co.uk, org.uk, ltd.uk, plc.uk. gov.uk etc will continue and be joined by other extensions under .uk as and when Nominet decide. I dont think Nominet will ever voluntarily give up their ability to control the .uk naming convention, which they could be doing if they released .uk, enabling others to potentially market their own ***.uk extensions in the form of subdomains.

mole

If you are in the tech industry or dying industries like banking and finance, one thing strikes you very fast. Things are changing. The only constant is change. It's hard for people to understand that broadband Internet only took traction into mainstream 2 years ago - and that's for ADVANCED countries. And the WWW started early adopter traction only in 1997, memories are short, mistakes are forever.

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If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties. Sir Francis Bacon

andersdb

Once a niche is filled, inertia ensures that it will only be displaced if a new alternative is a sufficient inprovement. Broadband is a huge improvement over dial up and therefore adopted. However customers are generally resistant to change if it has little perceived benefit to them. The co.uk extension is well established in the minds of both consumers and businesses (who have invested billions developing and marketing their Websites). It would be of no advantage to either business or consumers to go through the time and expense of switching from co.uk to another extension.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=70626

Some as yet to be invented technology might in the future replace the Internet, just as a hundred years ago telegraph operators were replaced by telephones. But if that where to happen, all of our accumulated domains (regardless of their extension) along with web sites and present IT skills could become worthless. I think that is more likely to happen than Nominet releasing a .uk extension.

mole

That's a classic example of protectionism and self-interest at play. One will observe the same worldwide, companies investing into their .com.__ for that period, and then changing to .__ when they have to, because they know it is factually shorter and therefore easier to type and market.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=70626

Sure, you can intimidate and bribe Nominet for a while, but how long till water finds its own level?

That's what the Sunrise period is for, to make a case for the so-called "billions" invested by a company into their co.uk name.

Let's be honest. The only people who are really worried, are those with hundreds of .co.uk names hoarded away as purely speculative resale items, with no investment into developing the URL. They will have no case to bear when 2LD .UK hits the pipe in the afterwash of the .EU launch.

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If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties. Sir Francis Bacon

andersdb

The only reason that I have yet heard suggested for introducing .uk is that it is shorter than co.uk and easier to type. This would greatly reduce the number of domains available ie no domainname.co.uk, org.uk, gov.uk etc.

Should we also look forward to .com being replaced by .c as it is two letters shorter. Even better why not scrap all domain extensions and only allow words to be registered once.

IMHO the real motive behind the .uk concept is that people who cant get the co.uk they want, hope their catching skills will get them a load of valuable domains.

The lawyers would get rich. Nobody else would gain from it and IMHO it will therefore never happen.

mole

You left this out ---.UK is shorter and easier to market and is in line with the International move towards 2LD ccTLDs worldwide..US, .CN, .SG, .IN....
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=70626

When .EU launches, the .CO.UK contrast will become even more starked, and out of place. Straight laced red tape beuracracy has a home, and the Internet is not one of them.

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If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties. Sir Francis Bacon

PoorDoggie

when .eu comes out, obviouslly .co.eu, .org.eu etc... will come out too right?