New TLDs may create software headaches.
I’ve written before about how new top level domain names might not work in software programs such as browsers and e-mail applications. But admittedly, I have little first hand knowledge of the problem. So it was good to see this post from Patrick Vande Walle, who works for one of the groups vying for .sport.
Vande Walle explains how lists of acceptable top level domains are hard coded into many applications, and how an onslaught of new TLDs could mean years before they all work in many software programs:
With the new gtLD round, ICANN plans to add a lot of TLDs, potentially at very close intervals, if not at the same time. The figure most often heard is 500. That is a quantum leap forward. All those hard-coded lists deeply buried in software will need to be updated. It will not happen overnight. It may take years. This time also, we are throwing into the mix TLDs which could be long strings, like .coca-cola. We are also adding IDN (internationalized Domain Names) in non-ASCII characters, which will be a real issue with all environments that do not process double-byte strings. There are tons of legacy applications that do not support that, and some never will.
Vande Walle says that ICANN’s current stance — that this issue is someone else’s problem — isn’t smart. After all, if new TLDs present compatibility problems, the new TLD rollout could partially fail.
jorge says
I’m a programmer. I agree.
Without getting into the details, there are tons of places where software validates domains.
As an example, one of the most common is EMAIL addresses. Lots of code looks far a pattern in the email address like:
[a bunch of letters]@[a bunch of letters].[2 or 3 more letters].[2 more optional for country]
I think though, that recent TLDs like .MOBI (4 letters) have already rooted out a lot of these problems for most vendors.
There are sure to be people using a new “[email protected]” who have problems, though!
It’ll be fun. Not quite Y2K proportions, but fun.
jp says
This is good news for software companies. They can start charging rent or a fee to have your .Tld hardcoded in. Let’s face it, if there are thousands of new .tlds most of which will be pointless then financial compensation will be the only motivating factor for software companies to give a crap about most of them.
Steve M says
.USA anyone? 😉
roddy says
.usa ??? …… i live in australia friend