Category Archives: Domain names

Say Goodbye to .YU

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Although the country code .SU (Soviet Union) refuses to die, .YU (Yugoslavia) is now history.

As the ICANN blog notes:

With the transition of Serbia and Montenegro to using .RS and .ME comes the task of migrating users from the .YU domain. As we have talked about before, ICANN uses an international standard for determining country codes for use on the Internet. This standard, known as ISO 3166-1, indicates when new countries codes are created, changed or removed. As Yugoslavia, the predecessor country to Serbia and Montenegro, is now a piece of history – so too is its YU country code.

Awhile back I wrote about the addition of .ME and the potential challenges it poses.

Also (possibly) on the horizon is a domain name for Kosovo. Much resistance must be overcome (namely Russia) before this domain becomes a reality, but I imagine it will within the next two years.

Finally, .KP for North Korea was also recently approved by ICANN as an official country country code.

To keep track of all 245 country code top-level-domains (ccTLDs), check out our new Country Codes of the World map. It even includes .KP.

.SU: The domain that refuses to die

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The .su country code domain stands for Soviet Union. It was established in 1990, just before the Soviet Union ceased to exist. And although the Soviet Union is but a memory, .su is alive and well, despite the best efforts of ICANN.

According to this Reuters article, roughly 10,000 .su domains have been registered, including 1,500 this year. While this number pales in comparison to the Russian domain, .ru, it has to drive the folks at ICANN a bit crazy. ICANN has been trying to fade .su away to nothingness for some time now but the registrars keep signing up new registrations.

Says the article:

“We want to try and save it,” Alexei Platonov, director of the independent Russian Institute of Public Networks, which promotes technology use, said at a news briefing.

“First there is the community and secondly there is also the history of the domain name … It’s original and offers Web site names that other domains don’t have any more,” Platonov said.

Despite the love a number of Russians feel for their .su domain, I don’t believe companies who plan to enter Russia need register it. The .ru domain will suffice, and it is one of the fastest-growing country codes on the Internet right now (next to China). In fact, it just recently surpassed one million registrations.

I will be soon publishing a new poster that includes all 245 country code domains — though it will not include the .su domain. You can read more about it here.

You can also read about the smaller version of this map, which we published earlier this year.

Global by Design: The Guide to Global Navigation

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The September/October issue of Global by Design is now out.

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Our feature article is on established and emerging best practices in global navigation. We note improvements made recently by companies such as eBay and GE. And we include a checklist that you can use when developing your company’s global gateway strategy.

Here is what else is included in this issue:

  • The Guide to Global Navigation: The best sites and best practices
  • Global Domain Names Update: Of IDNs and ccTLDs
  • Connecting the Global Dots: An interview with Clay Tablet
  • Google’s Global Developments: From India to Apps
  • Idiom WorldServer 9: Software highlights
  • Globalization Briefs: Of Arrows and Web Localization
  • Vendor News: Molecular, SDL, Lionbridge

If you’re interested in subscribing to Global by Design, please contact us.

Also, if you want the complete guide on global navigation best practices, check out The Art of the Global Gateway.

The Globalization of Beer Pong

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In my day, our drinking game was quarters. All you needed was a glass and a quarter — and beer, of course. Today, drinking games have gotten a bit more complicated.

As The Wall Street Journal reports (sub required), beer pong is now sweeping the nation.

Here’s the setup:

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Now what does this story have to do with Web globalization?  Apparently, an entire industry of beer pong accessory makers have sprung up with global aspirations. Consider this excerpt:

In 2004, brothers Ben and Jesse Spiegel took a leave from the University of Denver, pooled more than $50,000 in savings and borrowed money, and started BJ’s Beer Pong. Following a business plan he wrote after taking a business course, Jesse spent seven months traveling around China looking for a factory to produce their portable beer-proof, sun-resistant tables with built-in rubber mats.

They say they have sold about 8,000 tables for prices ranging from $110 to $250 and have registered domain names in Australia, England and Ireland with hopes of international expansion. “By reading a lot of business and success books, we knew we could work hard and will it to happen,” Jesse says.

That’s right, the owners of BJ’s Beer Pong have registered domain names in other markets in anticipation of going global. Regardless of what you think of their business venture, you have to give these guys credit for looking beyond borders from day one.