Great point Umer. I was there (Late95-Mid98), and as a matter of fact, I was probably in a better position than Rick himself because I was a part owner of a local ISP and I was in charge of registering domain names. I actually got a lot of companies their first domain names. The registration fee initially was free then raised to $70 for 2 years. Networksolutions had recommendations for the 3 famous TLDs (along with .gov .edu etc) .Net was for network and infrastructure service companies, .org was for organisations of all kinds including non-profits unions, associations etc. and the .com of course for commercial websites. I was BLINDED by the .net and it showed in the types of domains that I registered. I knew a lot of people in the industry and almost no one predicted what will happen to the dot com and the explosive growth and value it gained. So, it was not just me, I was there and no one talked about it. My preference was for .Net because it captured the true meaning of the Internet, which is the NET part. The name was cool and just felt right. People like Rick saw something different because Rick was into the 800 number business and that influenced him to look at the new technology with the same eye. Vanity numbers and vanity domains that are geared towards the commercial side of the still baby Internet. His view prevailed and proven to be on point. But his registrations were a gamble too. If you bought 100 domains at the time with a registration fee $7000 (plus renewal few and upkeep) without any clear potential of ever selling them, you are taking a HUGE gamble. But he and a few others did just that. Most people like myself registered a handful of domains and were happy with it. My choice was mostly .nets and a few .com some with a dash because it separated the keywords and looked more readable (commerce was not even on my mind, just connecting the world). Now If I knew even a tiny fraction of what will happen in a few years I could've easily registered 100 top notch domains and called it a day. But it's easier said than done. People/domainers today keep saying "IF ONLY" I was there, I believe the great majority would've done nothing about it if they only knew what we've known then, hindsight is always 20/20. And you just can't go back in time and do things differently.