According to IOD the reason for not letting other
registrars in earlier is to properly develop and test their RRP system so that the
stability of the registry and the internet isn't yeopardized.The time period isn't
quite 1 year anymore since IOD answered this to ICANN (it's 4-6 months):
"Image
Online Design has already begun work on an implementation of the Registry-Registrar
Protocol (RRP) and had expected to take up to 6 months to complete development prior
to a testbed period. However, public comments to the ICANN message board suggest
consensus. Specifically, that the period when external registrars are unable to process
.Web registrations be as short as possible. Therefore, Image Online Design has accellerated
development of its RRP implementation, and expects to begin a testbed within 30 to
60 days after entry into the root servers. [...] The length of the test-bed has not
yet been determined, and depends on the results of the testing. We anticipate that
3 to 4 months is a reasonable time frame for thorough testing."
The ICANN
staff response to this was:
"...an attempt to so significantly revise a registry
so soon after launch would be a serious stability problem."
So, first IOD gets
criticized for the long delay before other registrars can compete (with IOD). Then
when they listen to this "consensus" at the ICANN message board and promises to reduce
the delay they get criticized for yeopardizing the stability.
I think that IODs
answer shows:
1) that IOD is listening to the internet community (to comments on
the ICANN message board). I can't say the same about the other applicants.
2) that
IOD is indeed committed to get competition between registrars (including themselves)
in the new .web gTLD. They are, as I believe, right now working very hard to reduced
the timeframe from 1 year to 4-6 months.
3) but WITHOUT yeopardizing the stability
of the registry and the internet. They DID say 4-6 months, NOT 1-2 weeks.
Håkan
Hansson
Programbyrån AB