In March, Garrin began negotiating with a group of high-powered investors who have offered to pump several million dollars into Name.space. While Garrin won't name the investors, he's optimistic the deal will go through, and says if it does, his company will have the leverage to gain access to the root zone. With money for marketing and staff, Garrin believes Name. Of course, the deal could very well collapse. But the fact that such well-heeled investors are even considering a partnership with a small innovator like Name.
Space is indicative of the pressure to expand the number of domains.
There again, the fact that Garrin a guy whose own site, MediaFilter.org , is filled with avowedly antiauthoritarian and anticorporate content finds no contradiction in seeking to become one of those vested interests says something larger about the market imperatives of the Web. The Internet's is the first revolution whose pioneers believed they could create a better world while making themselves rich. So far the Net has made quite a few people rich. The jury's still out as to whether it has made the world that much better. Tell us what you think.