Nominet and the .UK Release – What are your thoughts?

Many of you may know that there are plans to release the .UK extension in the UK, which will push the .co.uk into the second spot.

Why .UK?

It makes sense, if Nominet had released this to start with, rather than putting the emphasis. It is easier and quicker. Their reasoning so far, is that it will offer higher levels of security in comparison to the .co.uk.

When?

You are probably about as sure as they are. Here is their response to our email asking that very question:

“Our consultation phase has now ended for direct.uk. We will be providing a summary of all the feedback to the board at our next board meeting in February. From here the board will then review the feedback, and may take a view to go down one of several routes to an eventual product, or a different release process, or even the possibility that we might not go ahead with a product at all.

A summary of all the feedback received will also be published on the Nominet website ( individual pieces of feedback will not be published).

Any updates on this process throughout will be announced as and when they come.”

How it affects you

Adam Grunwerg posted an excellent blog over at the Guardian, here, so we won’t repeat what he has summed up quite nicely.

Understandably, the .UK release is not being favoured by the majority. Rebranding costs are likely to run into the millions. That’s not to mention the fact that if your domain is catchy and brandable, you are going to have to fight for it, maybe even pay thousands of pounds at auction.

What do you think of the .UK release?