".eu" domains

[flood6]

I just got an email from the UK's Tripod/Lycos (I used to host a free site there). They are pitching the .eu domains. The link they push in the email goes to https://webcentre.lycos.co.uk/order/prereg/domain/eu/.

The email says you can "pre-register" with them, then when the .eu domains are available in November, they will try to secure them for you.

I think we all agree that in a perfect world you should try to get all extensions of your domain; .com, .net, .biz, .org, .co.uk, .au, .ca, .la, .blah, blah, blah. But I imagine that most webmasters/site owners try to run as lean as possible and don't have the cash to drop on all possible versions of our domains.

The real question: How big do you think the .eu extension is going to get? The less popular versions (.ca, .au, .us, .biz, .tv) appeal to relatively small markets, but .eu is going to represent all of the EU.

The email from Tripod said that .eu was projected to be the #2 variation after .com (a position that I imagine is currently held by .net); my initial reaction was to dismiss this as sales hype, but there may be something to this...

Is anyone going to rush out and snatch up their .eu domains? Or are you expecting them to go the way of .biz and .us?

[matauri]

They aren't as unusal as you might think. the .au extension is quite popular in Oz.

Also, the added benefit can be... there are many search directories in each country that will only accept the countries extension. There are a few in Oz & Canada I know about that exclusively take only .ca or .au sites. It is how they are recognizing that it is a local site (even though I dont argree with their logic there)

Personally I think they are fine if you want a region distinction in your URL, or if you want to utelize these directories. they can also be advantageous when a domain name you want isnt available as a .net or .com , but can be available if you have ".net.au"

From experience though, they seem to be a fair bit more expensive than the norm.



Cindy