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I didn't know it, thank you for the heads-up.
Other then those outlined by the article, I also foresee many technical issues, as so much software and hardware out there uses the Public Suffix List http://publicsuffix.org/ maintained by Mozilla for restricting cookie settings, correctly manage SSL certificates... a complete mess could seriously penalize early adopters!
If I were a UK based business, I would probably register a .uk domain without trying to use it for a while, just 301 redirect it.
Thanks Federico, it's strange just how few people are aware of this move. Hopefully it doesn't take small businesses by surprise!
I suspect just like every other new TLD, nothing will come of this...the public is so engrained in the top ones such as .com, .co.uk, .org, etc that I can't see anything in the foreseeable future posing a threat to them. I knew a lot of people talking about .co as the .com killer - predictably it didn't happen.
I can understand that some will want to brand protect however for the vast majority of web owners, it's not cause for any action.
I do agree with you to some extent; .co was driven by a marketing push from registrars to mislead businesses/consumers into thinking it stood for 'company' amongst other things. For me, it was only ever going to have the impact of .biz or .me.
However, .uk is on a completely different level. This name will replace .co.uk as Britain's extension, I have no doubt about that. It's shorter, it's generic, it's more secure and without buying one your brand becomes diluted/confused/stolen.
But it's more than just protecting your brand, it will be another mini gold rush for domain punters. And if you miss an opportunity to buy now, you'll be paying a premium in the future.
I see where you're coming from but I respectfully disagree - as the article says, .co.uk is engrained on the average person, I can't see a way (unless Google, Amazon. eBay, etc 301'd to .uk and promoted it) that this new TLD would take over. No one is suddenly going to switch to a TLD that none of the public knows or cares about.
I could walk around any major city here in the UK and I bet nobody would be able to tell me more than 3 or 4 TLDs. I bet 99.99% of them will never have even heard of .co, etc.
In my mind, it's just another revenue stream from nominet and the hype surrounding it is to simply get website owners to buy it - the public doesn't care.
This is an under-reported quagmire for .co.uk owners and Nominet ought to come under a lot more scrutiny based on the reported composition of their board and commercial self interests. Where is the balance of benefits for british business of this decision? It feels like another enforced domain purchase cost foisted on business only to create consumer confusion and by proposing .uk as a substitute for co.uk the exercise is a huge can of worms.
I'd welcome the counter arguments or advocates of this. I just do not see it.
My personal opinion is that Nominet's biggest argument for this move is to remain internationally competitive. But the .co.uk ccTLD is so ingrained in the consumer mindset I'm not even sure if this is that valid. Anyway, business owners can have their say during the consultation period; it's a fairly long questionnaire but they really are listening to what we have to say - http://www.nominet.org.uk/how-participate/policy-development/current-policy-discussions-and-consulta...
It seems to be a similar move with .FR and .COM.FR but I expect it might produce quite a landrush but I think from a branding perspective it's a brilliant move for global branding and bring it inline with other ccTLD. But interested how much French Connection might be dishing out for FC.UK...
I thought the introduction of .uk could lead to so many people trying to register popular brands' websites with a .uk extension in order to sell it back to them after a certain amount of time, however I had a look on Nominet's websites and looked for previous disputes and complaints (http://www.nominet.org.uk/disputes/resolving-domain-disputes/previous-cases-0). It seems like brands won't have a hard time in getting a fraudolent .uk domain transferred to them.. The problem is... how long will it take from claim to domain transfer?