>> Bottom line is that there should be no what ifs here. You yourself admitted that
Afilias is technically superior. They obviously have a lot more money than IOD has.
Therefore, I can't see how they're not the obvious choice for the .web registry.
<< I didn't say Affilias is technically superior; I said "I don't believe IOD
is technically superior"
>> Are we supposed to give .web to a less qualified applicant
just because they're the underdog? <<
Absolutely... They've layed the foundation;
they've done the leg work, and they've demonstrated a passion for doing one thing,
and doing one thing only (how many other registrars in the "general" category only
asked for one gTLD?)
>> As for competition, Afilias has a much more diverse base
of members than IOD does and ICANN does a good job pointing out the fact that even
though NSI is part of the membership, each member only owns 5.25% of Afilias and
the maximum is 11%. That is no monopoly. That is TRUE competition if I've ever seen
it. IOD will bring revenue to one company - IOD. Afilias will bring revenue to multiple
companies, big and small, here and abroad. <<
A monopoly is a monopoly, and this
is one. It may be multiple companies, but it's companies that are all chipped into
one big pool. They will all be able to insert entries into the DB without paying
a fee, something "outsiders" won't be able to do. They might not promote each other,
but you can bet that together, they will work to drown the "outsiders" out.