Thanks for doing it (and putting it back online). Really useful if you're looking for a quick .io inspiration.
Some time ago I was trying to register an .io domain - but my bank would not allow the transaction because fraud :(
I still want one...
There are currently 26 three letter words/common acronyms left. List available here for a small fee http://andio.herokuapp.com
One comment was enough.
Among which 283 are available .io domains:
The laws of ANY nation?! I founded a UGC .io startup in 2007 (we were the biggest .io site for quite a while), and while we never had any trouble, I find that clause worrisome.
It's seemed to me that all the uses of .io so far are precisely for sites only developers will have any reason to visit--software libraries, B2B SaaS, etc.
Railing against re-use of small countries TLDs is the 2013 version of writing "Micro$oft".
I remember reading about how Japanese advertizers would use Google queries in ads instead of URLs - and we in the West did little to improve on that with QR codes - so it's possible that there's a place for .io somewhere. I just think it'd be a really bad idea to use them interchangeably with .com domains.
I guess the same can be said of .co domains, which look like typos to the average person, when they aren't used as shorturls.
That's happened in the UK as well, though (in my experience) more often with video adverts (e.g. movie trailers) than print advertising. It began with stuff like "AOL Keyword: harry potter" (was it "keyword"? can't remember, was definitely AOL), and mostly died after that, but have seen it with Google a few times.
And on the flip side, you seem to suggest that QR codes are a western thing - actually they were invented in Japan, and are much bigger in Asia than over here.
This is probably because it's hard for the Japanese to correctly remember web addresses, since they're in the Latin alphabet. By having them remember search queries instead, this problem can be easily avoided.
Many users just type website names into google or their location bar, not paying any attention to the URL at all. Or, actually type the _hostname_ into a google search box, not realizing what a hostname/URL _is for_.
Also, I can't think of any .ms sites yet that is listed there. Even a google seasrch of site:.ms doesn't seem to show up anything that sticks out... maybe a few music related sites using it as the 'music' tld?
In other words, I'm not sure this is a good thing or sets a good precedent. I understand the rationale as they're just reacting to what the industry is doing (I'm looking at you GH) but I imagine we'll see more of this in the future.
I say all this as a (legitimate) .io domain holder.
Somewhere there is a bailiwick just waiting for the crafting community to jump all over it.
I've got to think that they'll see a pretty big influx of .io registrations today & over the next few days, I'm sure they're thrilled.
I also have the same reservations too, though -- although I applaud the reaction & speed, a big part of me wonders if it's really best suited for decisions like this.
What happens when some other TLD needs to be re-categorized the same? Where does it stop?
Is there any precedent to Google removing a domain from their 'gccTLD' list?
That'd be more scary / have a bigger potential impact on people I'd assume -- although I suppose they could just 'tweak' the TLD to not rank quite as high without doing as much publicly like this perhaps...
Google is treating .io as gccTLD for at least 6 months.
Not to mention my .io domain ranks quite well for my keywords across all national google front-ends for quite some time.
Even the businesses that that use it and are less tech-heavy in business model tend to be web- and/or mobile-first type companies from what I've seen...
I jumped in in 2009, and basically had my pick of 2-letter domains.
Maybe people will want to take tele.io and newsies.io off my hands now (half kidding but seriously, email if you're interested :)).
My .io has been hosted on GAE since the start. I wish GAE would support naked domains. http://www.macch.io/
I'm planning to build a consumer facing site and use .io as it's an easy way to get a decently good domain, but I don't want to scare people off with the domain.
Maybe this will get me to actually do something with it.
At the time of this comment, there are only 2 left.
If interested http://andio.herokuapp.com
EDIT: was.io and mph.io have been purchased since posting this comment, now 38 left.
I mean english dictionary words and common acronyms, not random 3 letter combinations.
I'm sure you could do this yourself but why waste $19 of your time :)
There were 40 left about 2 hours ago, so far these domains have been purchased in the last 2 hours: was.io, mph.io, lie.io, avg.io, cum.io, ear.io, era.io, hwy.io, shy.io, sox.io
