RegistryPro have to do a combination of things for .pro to make progress; remove restrictions, cut reg fees in line with other gTLD's, and sell through big registrars like Godaddy.
.jobs is proof that being sold through Godaddy alone is no guarantee of success. .jobs is restricted with high reg fees and virtually no developed sites, sound familiar?
RegistryPro has made no progress developing .pro in 4-5 years because they are blocking .pro's natural web developer and entrepreneur customer base with restrictions.
Professionally licensed people tend to work for big organisations who have their own web site, they work long hours so they don't have much time to learn web design, and they are risk averse so they are the least likely people to switch from .com or their ccTLD.
Getting people to switch from .com to .pro is like getting settlers to move west in the US in the 1860s. It wasn't doctors, lawyers and accountants who moved first, it was dispossessed workers, people who didn't have any land or in .pro's case a professional license or good .coms. I found this on Yahoo Answers to explain why settlers moved west in the 1860s;
"Land was at a great price so if you wanted your own land this was usually the best way to get it. Adventure drew many, starting anew also was a big factor. You could start a business and have little competition. And also settled land was getting a bit overpopulated (not to mention expensive) so moving enabled you to have some elbow room. And Gold drew tons of people both within the country and globally. But that was really just a flash in the pan."
This pretty much sums up why I switched from .com to .pro; .pro had a vast expanse of cheap land, I missed the .com boom, there was less competition for premium keywords, and very occasionally you strike gold, for me that was getting offered domains like London.pro or Salon.pro for $150 and picking up keywords that were made for .pro like Office.pro, Mobile.pro and Studio.pro.
Getting .pro sold through Godaddy would help but until Registry.pro understand what they are selling and who they can sell it to, .pro's vast reserves of brand value and credibility will remain untapped.
One of the ironies of alternative extensions is the more intrinsically valuable an extension is, the more clueless the registry looking after it is. .mobi is the ugliest least brandable alternative extension on paper but mTLD did a brilliant job promoting it. .pro is exceptional on paper but has been shackled by 4-5 years of incompetence and inaction by RegistryPro.
