The Fresh Top Level Domain Software Problem

Fresh TLDs may create software headaches.

I’ve written ahead of regarding how fresh top level domain names might not work in software programs such as browsers and e-mail applications. But admittedly, I have little first hand knowledge of the problem. So it was good to see this post from Patrick Vande Walle, who works for one of the groups vying for .sport.

Vande Walle explains how lists of acceptable top level domains are hard coded into many applications, and how an onslaught of fresh TLDs could mean years ahead of they all work in many software programs:

With the fresh gtLD round, ICANN plans to add a lot of TLDs, potentially at very close intervals, if not at the same time. The figure most often heard is 500. That is a quantum leap forward. All those hard-coded lists deeply buried in software will need to be updated. It will not happen overnight. It may take years. This time also, we are throwing into the mix TLDs which could be long strings, like .coca-cola. We are also adding IDN (internationalized Domain Names) in non-ASCII characters, which will be a real issue with all environments that do not process double-byte strings. There are tons of legacy applications that do not support that, and some never will.

Vande Walle states that ICANN’s current stance — that this issue is someone else’s problem — isn’t smart. Following all, if fresh TLDs present compatibility problems, the fresh TLD rollout could partially fail.