> >However, NSI's continued hegemony over the core parts of the DNS is also a
> >threat to the the net.
>
> "Hegemony over the core parts..." In reality, that's all of
> 3 TLD zone files. There's 246 other TLD zone files. There's
> one million other zone files - several of which are bigger
> than NSI's.
Most of those other TLD zone's are commercially miniscule. They are the
unknown brands. cocacola.nu isn't got nearly the commercial power as
cocalola.com.
By-the-way, which TLD is bigger than .com?
> How about DOC's hegemony over the root zone.
(The operation of which has been contracted to NSI.)
No disagreement there. Although we all know that alternative roots are
technically possible (but perhaps not commercially viable.)
But presumably ICANN will inherit the US's role over the current zone used
by "the roots" as well as being able to designate who are "the root
servers".
> How about ISC's hegemony over BIND.
I've wondered about that myself.
Linux Torvalds (sp?) has used his control over Linux to do good things.
Paul Vixie has lot of potential power if he should start imposing license
terms on Bind.
I'm surprised that NSI has not financed the development of an alternative
to Bind.
> If we really want to go for broke, how about Cisco's hegemony over the
> router market
Oh how I wish it were a bigger hegemony. ;-)
[For those listening in, I own a reasonable sized block of Cisco stock as
the result of an acquisition, although the actual cash revenue to me has,
to date, been all of $95.]
Cisco has some pretty solid - and don't let folks at my office hear this -
quite viable competition. Nortel(Bay), 3COM, and many others provide
alternatives to Cisco. I've got an Ascend unit sitting right next to me
(of course it is sitting on top of a Cisco. ;-)
I'm not sure where you are going with your list.
Of these that you have mentioned ... NSI over the TLD's, US over the root,
ISC over Bind, Cisco over routers, etc, ... only the first is a true
economic monopoly over a market. In each other case there are viable
alternatives or potential alternatives.
> ... How about GAC's new hegemony over defining what constitutes
> Internet law and consumer interest served to you in a Communiqu�.
That scares me. The GAG is starting to look very scary.
> In a world of big time hegemony, NSI's tiny piece doesn't amount to
> squat.
Well, it isn't AT&T before Greene. But it is the Godzilla in our sandbox.
And if we trust in competition to bring goodness and joy to the domain
name system, we have to make sure that the baby registrars and registries
aren't crushed in their cribs by NSI as it shifts in its sleep.
You mentioned that some of these competitors, like AOL are hardly small.
True, but that doesn't mean that they will suceed against NSI without
massive investments, thus implying costs that need to be recovered from
somewhere.
Even the giant Ford motor company didn't succeed with its Edsel.
--karl--
