Global by Design

ICANN has been talking about IDNs for years. For that matter, so have I.

So I half-expected a “boy that cried wolf” scenario to play out when ICANN finally did approve IDNs.

That is, ICANN would say “IDNs are coming!” and the media would collectively yawn.

But that’s not what happened.

IDNs have received a media blitz over the past week. Separate articles have appeared in:

WIRED

New York Times

Associated Press

Wall Street Journal

IP Watch

This is a welcome sign for anyone who has to educate co-workers and, more important, upper management to the importance of supporting a truly multilingual Internet.

Granted, it remains to be seen if the intended users of IDNs actually want to use them.

I’m betting they do.

We’ll know much more a year from now.

• Here comes IDNs
• Where is China’s fast-track IDN?
• IDNs coming in 2010. Really.
• IDNs become a presidential issue
• IDNs get on the fast track
• The Rise of the Multilingual MBA