domain names

[CMUNSON]

Les,  (and others who may be interested),
     
To get a customized domain name you must register your IP address and 
request the domain name you want (if available) through a company called 
Internic. You then pay a startup fee and an annual fee to 'own' that name. 
They're site is at http://rs.internic.net/
     
Also what is happening is that other companies are buying up large amounts 
of personal names and obvious/popular domain names from Internic and then 
selling them for a price.  Take a look at 
http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Internet_Services/Domain 
_Registration/
     
The only official one is Internic (at least at this point in time...this 
may change soon.)  All the others are just capitalizing on the system.
     
Hope this helps.
     
-hal
     
     
     This is the correct way to do domain registration now. There has been 
     quite a bit of criticism of Internic for the way they administer this 
     "service" and how they've sat on the "tolls" they have collected. 
     Several other companies would like to get a piece of this action.
     
     Of course, they probably know about the plans, not yet widely 
     reported, to start charging registration fees PER IP ADDRESS. If you 
     thought paying $100 to register a whole domain was annoying, just 
     think what would happen if you had to "register" hundreds or thousands 
     of IP addresses.
     
     In my eyes this possibility would practically mean that you'd have to 
     get a "license to publish" on the web, because those with large 
     pockets would have an advantage.
     
     Stay tuned.
     
     Chuck Munson