Why have a TLD when for most of the world:
www.cnn.CO.UK is forwarded to www.cnn.COM
www.microsoft.NET is forwarded to www.microsoft.COM
www.google.NET is forwarded to www.google.COM
Not all organizations simply FORWARD sites. At different times I have used www.google.com, www.google.co.uk, www.google.ca, www.google.ru, www.google.de, and www.google.com.au They are different because I can select different subsets of the total database to search. www.apple.ca does forward, but not as you think. Try it right now, look at the price of that MacBook Pro and then see what your Apple Store sells it for. In the past, some ISPs have use .net for internal email addresses and .com for customers of their mail services. Whether or not it is COMMON for organizations to make distinctions based on TLDs, some have clearly done so and I don't see why we should subtract that capability. Many of the new TLDs that are in operation, and that are being proposed, are primarily MARKETING EXERCISES. Let me ask you, does the world need a new way for pornography to be marketed? When .COM, .EDU, .NET and .ORG were invented, they had a purpose other than as marketing exercises. If only we could get some serious support for new TLDs that make some kind of sense, other than as marketing opportunities for the small number of people in the registry and registrar business. --Michael Dillon