Quick background: I've spent over 5 years of the web presence industry. At one time, I was actually researching/analyzing this very proposal for opening up the TLD space - and it's potential business opportunities.

We've followed the ups and downs of this ICANN initiative for such a long time now, it's almost surreal to see the image of (almost) the entire ICANN board raising their hands and voting in favor of making this a reality.

I still remember reading the letter by the Department of Defense (or some such - been a while I'm not sure) to ICANN adding (what were clearly semantic level) road blocks to the proposal's progress. Arguably, Verisign's insecurity over .com's dominance led to some very interesting times.

The entire thing makes for a very interesting case study that I'd normally read in the Competitive Strategy class.

And the best part is that this is just the start of more interesting times. I can't wait to see companies competing for good TLDs, the stratospheric heights the bids reach in the (have-to-happen) auctions, the actual launches of new commercial TLDs, and everything else.

Stay tuned.

In the meantime, for those who have no clue what I'm rambling about, check out the cool infographic that I hope adds context.