On or around Tue, Mar 13, 2001 at 12:34:25PM -0800, Owen DeLong may have written: [snip]
While I agree that having one true root is good, and that for the time being, that should be the ICANN root, the bottom line is that whether we like it or not, that is, indeed, a political issue and not a technical one. Sure, the desire to have one root is driven by technical merits. However, how that root is chosen, which root it is, and who gets to decide are all political issues.
The fact that the current method of choice is "It's the one that has been there the longest" doesn't change the fact that it is a method of choice, and that it is a political issue.
that is exactly the problem - it has become a political issue, when it should be judged _solely_ on technical merit. Backend network operational issues that have the capacity to fork or render inoperable the Internet as we know it deserver to be debated and judged exclusively on the basis of what is the Right Thing To Do. Whatever method we end up using as a translation between the user interface and the network, it needs to be chosen because it's the Right Way and not because X number of people like/don't like it, or because choosing it will please Corp. Foo that has Y percent market share or Z gazillion dollars. Technical matters should be decided on technical merits. If we're deciding them on political merits, then something is already broken and needs to be fixed. -- Scott Francis scott@ [work:] v i r t u a l i s . c o m Systems Analyst darkuncle@ [home:] d a r k u n c l e . n e t PGP fingerprint 7ABF E2E9 CD54 A1A8 804D 179A 8802 0FBA CB33 CCA7 illum oportet crescere me autem minui