.com

• Home
• Java Certification
• News
• Forum
• Books
• About

.com

Introduced	1985
TLD type	Generic top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	VeriSign
Sponsor	None
Intended use	Company entities (worldwide)
Actual use	Used for virtually any commercial or non-commercial website and is generally accepted as the standard for TLDs
Registration restrictions	None
Structure	Registrations at second level permitted
Documents	RFC 920; RFC 1591; ICANN registry agreement
Dispute policies	UDRP
Website	VeriSign COM NET Registry

.com (commercial) is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) used on the Internet's Domain Name System. It was one of the original top-level domains (TLDs), established in January 1985, and has grown to be the largest TLD in use. It was originally administered by the United States Department of Defense. The DoD contracted its maintenance to SRI International, which managed it as DDN-NIC (alternatively known as SRI-NIC or simply "the NIC" (Network Information Center)^[1]) at the domain nic.ddn.mil. Beginning October 1, 1991 it was contracted to Government Systems Inc. (GSI), who sub-contracted it to Network Solutions Inc. (NSI).^[2]

On January 1, 1993 the National Science Foundation assumed responsibility for its maintenance, as .com was primarily being used for non-defense interests. The NSF contracted its maintenance to Network Solutions. In 1995 the NSF authorized NSI to begin charging registrants (of .org and .net as well as .com) an annual fee, for the first-time since its inception. Initially it was $50 per year, with $35 going to NSI, and $15 going to a government fund. New registrations had to pay for the first two years, making the new-domain registration fee $100. In 1997 the United States Department of Commerce assumed authority over it (along with the rest of the generic top level domains). It is currently operated by VeriSign, which had acquired Network Solutions. (VeriSign later spun off Network Solutions' non-registry functions into the current company which continues as a registrar.) In the English language it is consistently pronounced as a word, dot-com, and has entered common parlance this way.

VeriSign reported that in mid-2008 around 77 million .com domains were registered.^[3]

Although .com domains were officially intended to designate commercial entities^[4] (others such as government agencies or educational institutions have different top-level domains assigned to them), there has been no restriction on who can register .com domains since the mid-1990s. The opening of the .com registry to the public coincided with the commercialization and popularization of the Internet, and .com quickly became the most common top-level domain for websites. Many companies which flourished in the period between 1997-2001 (the time known as the "dot-com bubble") went so far as to incorporate .com into the company name; these became known as dot-coms or dot-com companies. The introduction of .biz in 2001, which is restricted to businesses, has had little impact on the popularity of .com.

Although companies anywhere in the world can register .com domains, many countries have a second-level domain with a similar purpose under their own country code top-level domain (ccTLD). Such second-level domains are usually of the form .com.xx or .co.xx, where xx is the ccTLD. Philippines (.com.ph), Australia (.com.au), Greece (.com.gr), Mexico (.com.mx), Republic of Korea (.co.kr), Jamaica (.com.jm), New Zealand (.co.nz), India (.co.in), Morocco (.co.ma), the People's Republic of China (.com.cn), Argentina (.com.ar), Pakistan (.com.pk), and the United Kingdom (.co.uk) are all examples.

Many noncommercial sites, such as those of nonprofit organizations or governments (including the Moroccan Consulate in Bordeaux), use .com addresses.^{[citation needed]} Some consider this to be contrary to the domain's original purpose and might say that a .org, .gov, or other more specific TLD might be more appropriate for such sites^{[citation needed]}. However, many organizations prefer the recognizability of a .com domain to a less familiar one.^{[citation needed]} As well, the original purposes of many of the top level domains are often considered irrelevant without restrictions on registrations.^{[citation needed]}

Registrations are processed via registrars accredited by ICANN; internationalized domain names are also accepted.

Transfer procedures

Domains can be transferred between registrars. Prior to October 2006, the procedure used by VeriSign was complex and unreliable - requiring a notary public to verify the identity of the registrant requesting a domain transfer. In October 2006, a new procedure, requiring the losing registrar to provide an authorization code on instruction from the registrant (also known as EPP code) was introduced by VeriSign to reduce the incidence of domain hijacking.

List of oldest .com domains

The following are the 100 oldest still-existing registered .com domains ^{[5] [6]}:

See also: List of the oldest currently-registered Internet domain names

Notes

External links

• IANA .com whois information
• List of .com accredited registrars

No comments have been added.

Your name:
City:
Country:	USA UK India Pakistan UAE Saudi Arabia Germany Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burund Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Rep Chad Chile China Columbia Comoros Congo Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic DR Congo Denmark Djiboutil Dominica Dominican Rep Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Eq Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Grenadines Guatemala Guinea Bissau Guinea Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Macau Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Nepal Neth Antilles Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Rawanda Romania Russia Sao Tome Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Korea South Africa Spain Sri Lanka St Kitts_Nevis St Lucia Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvala UAE Uganda Ukraine Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Western Samoa Yemen Yugoslavia Zaire Zambia Zimbabwe
Your comments:
Security check * (Please enter the number into adjoining box)

         

• Popular pages

  • Java Certification
  • Java Development Kit
  • Java Classpath
  • Java Library
  • Java Virtual Machine
  • J2EE - Java Enterprise Edition
  • J2SE - Java Standard Edition
  • J2ME - Java Micro Edition
  • JDBC - Java Database Connectivity
  • JSP - Java Server Pages
  • Servlets
  • Java Applets
  • Java Swing
  • Java Threads
  • Apache Struts Framework
  • Apache Tapestry Framework
  • Spring Framework
  • JSF - Java Server Faces
  • Java Web Services
  • Apache Axis
  • Eclipse
  • Microsoft Java

• More Resources:

  • Java Official site
  • JavaRanch
  • Java @ DevShed.com
  • Forum.Java.Sun.com