To .co or not - That is the question

[MapleDots]

There is one thing we keep discussing across the pond in Canada and that is .co.uk vs .uk

Now of course we understand that .co.uk is the legacy domain extension used and very similar to .com.mx in Mexico and numerous other places.

So we understand that .co.uk is THE thing but just like everything in the world things seems to be getting shorter and easier to remember, so we thought for sure everyone was going to jump on .uk when it came out.

My absolute biggest surprise was....

Even though current trademark owners and businesses were the first to be offered the .uk extension of their mark a remarkable amount of businesses did not bother to make the small investment to secure their mark.

I find it rather short sighted or may I even say ignorant (not informed) of business owners to not secure their mark. Ten years from now we may see a transition from .co.uk to .uk and a lot of people will be bickering how expensive the shorter .uk is.

That is my opinion as an outsider not really understanding why someone would possibly want the longer version.

If I was opening a new arm in England I would surely want MapleDots.uk instead of MapleDots.co.uk and I will lay odds that almost any foreigner in the same shoes would think the same.

Of course those people inside England that grew up with .co.uk will think I'm absolutely bonkers but I wonder if that opinion will be the same 10 years from now.

Just some friendly bantering from someone outside of the fold

 

[ukbackorder]

I don't think it's going to matter in 10 years time AI will make it irrelevant. As far as I can see we're in the last year or two death throes of most non-physical industries. However I agree .uk is a lot prettier than .co.uk but it didn't get the traction as it was introduced far too late.

 

[MapleDots]

I don't think it's going to matter in 10 years time AI will make it irrelevant. As far as I can see we're in the last year or two death throes of most non-physical industries. However I agree .uk is a lot prettier than .co.uk but it didn't get the traction as it was introduced far too late.

Not sure I agree with that

Will you still have a street address?

How about a phone number?

An internet address?

See what I mean.... domains are not going away that easily, just like your address and phone number are not.
In Canada we have a Social Insurance Number (not sure what its called in England) but as you can see even we, the public, have our own address with the government.

Addresses of all sorts are not going away, they will be easier to reach but they definitely will not be going away.

 

[ukbackorder]

People won't need domains. The total global upheaval will change humanity and the way it functions forever with economic structures and world governments becoming pointless. But this goes beyond the scope of this post We are no longer 'decades away' - the genie is out of the bottle and will never go back in.

 

[lazarus]

It's good to get an outside looking in perspective. I think that the .UK launch lacked the marketing needed for it to reach Joe public and Brian the IT Director.
It is however doing well, although slow but steady and change takes time. But I am still very much a believer that the TLD will be the "go to" extension down the road.

If I was opening a new arm in England I would surely want MapleDots.uk instead of MapleDots.co.uk and I will lay odds that almost any foreigner in the same shoes would think the same.

I think you are exactly right. Why would new business coming into the country solely use the .co.uk subdomain. Why wouldn't they use the top level domain for the UK.
I can 100% imagine how that board meeting would go... When deciding on what to choose when presented with all of the available options.

People won't need domains. The total global upheaval will change humanity and the way it functions forever with economic structures and world governments becoming pointless. But this goes beyond the scope of this post We are no longer 'decades away' - the genie is out of the bottle and will never go back in.

I am not convinced that domain names are going anywhere in the short term...
Billions of people are using them and trillions $ already invested.

I am not suggesting that we will be using Domain names forever, but I just cannot see it changing drastically in my lifetime.
Humans by nature like name things, and are also resistant to sudden change.

A bit off topic, but Look how long it is taking to shift to IPv6.
I remember it being talked about at least 20 years ago and we are still heavily dependent on IPv4.

 

[JMI]

The term AI is abused at the moment, 99% of "AI" we're seeing now is actually just 'data analysis' (ML) to generate an output. The good news is we all here will be just about dead by the time we reach technological singularity.

 

[ukbackorder]

AGI
Already happening
However it makes people happy to think it won't happen in their lifetime.
We will hit the singularity within 2 years by current progression rates. Maybe sooner.
This is *nothing* to do with chatGPT which is, as you say, not AI.
After that comes the solving of nuclear fusion removing world hunger, various medical breakthroughs and discoveries, halting or slowing of aging, ability to upload digital consciousness, etc. We just have to hope we're allowed to continue on.
Anyway apart from all this the domain industry is dying it seems.

 

[lazarus]

We will hit the singularity within 2 years by current progression rates. Maybe sooner.

I'll come back to this post in two years and compare then from now.
But... If Singularity does happen between now and then, I might be hiding somewhere in a cave.

I've set a reminder in my calendar

I found this amusing the other day.

 

[Helmuts]

I'll come back to this post in two years and compare then from now.
But... If Singularity does happen between now and then, I might be hiding somewhere in a cave.

I've set a reminder in my calendar

I found this amusing the other day.

 

[dee]

Totally agree the uk will become the 'go to' eventually. It's shorter, snappier and easier to deal with. Simples. It was done completely wrong to begin with, but these things always tend towards the easiest / best option over time.

Anyone think web 3 will be a 'thing' ? Blockchain domains ? Unforgettable and frename seem to be doing quite well and the fact that anyone can but a tld is kinda cool if it takes off.

AI as Rob says it rapidly going to affect everything. Its an exponential curve and we're already quite far up the slope. Coding, diagnostics,medicine, law..... all kids of industries are going to be buried very quickly. How that integrates in terms of web / how we find stuff is the question

 

[Kaleido]

"Anything else you're interested in isn't going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet."
Carl Sagan

 

[dee]

I'll come back to this post in two years and compare then from now.
But... If Singularity does happen between now and then, I might be hiding somewhere in a cave.

If you're interested, check out Ray Kurzweils stuff. He's been on about this for years and written a book on exactly this subject. He a total mad genius who is involved in all kinds of tech ( I got to know him through his synthesizer / keyboard company)

Out of that also come all kinds of stuff about longevity and senescence. A lot of it makes sense and actually works.... telemere shortening prevention etc. He's been actively trying to prolong his life long enough to be uploaded to the 'borg'

 

[dee]

Shorter? Yes. Easier to deal with, easiest/best option over time? Why? It just presents a lot of hassle for no to little potential upturn for established businesses. Why haven't Amazon, Ebay, Google, BBC or RightMove moved from .co.uk to .uk?

As it stands I can't see any advantages outweighing the disadvantages.

For large existing companies then yes...probably. But as new businesses start up there'll be a gradual crossover . The launch was a mess and a cash grab, but i think with time it will happen. It will then possibly snowball as the larger companies will feel pressure to move over maybe as the landscape changes.

Maybe they'll just coexist and Joe Punter wont give a monkeys.

 

[m4c]

Keeping on track with the OP - it’s fascinating how entrenched cultural ‘norms’ are…

I live in Germany and hyphenated domains are still the go-to way to publish - not every one, but I’d guess and say half of multi-word domains you see in the street have a hyphen - yet in the UK you can’t give them away…

with social media and our mobile centric universe, along with touchscreens and QR Codes bridging off-line to on-line, the URL is less relevant than ever.

i dont believe .co.uk will ever lose the top spot, but as mentioned in the years ahead, .uk should pick up more adoption

as a teenager in the 80s I knew about 40 phone numbers - who remembers any now beyond their own mobile and 999?

 

[satch]

At the launch of the '.uk' extension I always asked myself the question "If I don't register the .uk version and someone does register it then do I care?" And the answer personally was always no, because other people always owned the names with other extensions such as .com, .net, .info etc anyway. As well as other people owning close variations containing hyphens, keyword variations etc. So what was I achieving having the .uk? Just more renewal fees for eternity but no added value to what I offer my visitors!

But it's specific to the type of business and the type of domain I think. I can see why a business investing many millions and doing things like radio advertising would want to own lots of close variations and extensions of their brand name. But if a smaller business just wants to setup a business and build it around that domain name then often it feels like just having one extension is enough, and personally I'd still pick the .co.uk because it's more prevalent.

 

[baldidiot]

We've recently added some of the domains we've been hoarding to DAN, sedo etc.. and of the enquiries we've had so far where we have both the .co.uk and .uk, the contact has always been about the .co.uk, no one has even mentioned the .uk (even when they end up buying the .co.uk).

 

[baldidiot]

Are they priced the same, or are you asking for offers?

Mix of both. Some had BIN prices that were the same for .co.uk and .uk, others had no BIN but received offers.