Microsoft will get the .office top level domain, among many.
While the list of initial Global Top Level Domains has yet to be approved, it’s pretty clear that Microsoft will get the .office domain name.
The reason? Microsoft can easily afford the fees, there should be no question of their ability to support a gTLD and any technical or legal shortcomings in their application will presumably be addressed promptly.
But mostly because there are no other applicants for the .office domain suffix.
That’s a little surprising especially since Google alone applied for 101 gTLD’s including .docs .
So Microsoft will get .Office – it’s all over bar the shouting.
Redmond might get .docs as well, though the other applicant is Google so ICANN will have to decide between two ‘100 pound gorillas’.
The other Microsoft requested gTLD’s are:
.Azure
.Bing
.docs (Google is the other applicant)
.Hotmail
.Live (two other applicants, including Google)
.Microsoft – no surprise there
.Office
.Skydrive
.Skype
.Windows – also no surprise
.Xbox
You can see the full list of initial TLD applications here.
All of Google’s 101 TLD applications are made by their fully owned subsidiary Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Charleston Rd runs through the middle of their ‘Googleplex’ headquarters in California)
Wired has a list of gTLD’s that should exist but never will.
