After reading this week’s Robert X. Cringley article, I decided to leave a comment, and also cross post my comment to my blog because DNS is something that I’ve always had a fondness for. Failing to read the nearly 100 comments already posted until after writing it, a few of the other individuals wrote similar comments to mine. Oh well, another voice to be heard.
I’ve been reading Cringely for a couple years also now. Most of it great to read, and insightful. But this one was blah at best.
I agree with the comments above. People have tried to create a “secondary” name system to work with the internet, some have worked OK, others have already failed. Just Google for “Alternative DNS” there is plenty to read up on.
Wikipedia Alternative DNS lists a few of such attempts.
I personally do not trust any one company like OpenDNS to “filter” my requests. Especially with the amount of gTLD’s we now have, it’s bound to be quite difficult to police things. DNS should be Open, Distributed, and Automated. Anyone with a copy of ISC Bind, and some knowledge can start their own System. Brining users to the table is the hard part.
I also agree with Bob Kahn, that the name system shouldn’t be generating as much money as it does. But if someone waved that much money in front of your nose, could you honestly say no?
[update] This post’s comments has kind of turned into friendly a dialog with OpenDNS’ VP of Product, John Roberts. –Thanks John.
[tags]cringley, DNS, internet, technology, alternative DNS, nameservers, domains[/tags]
