Can you imagine surfing the web if you had to remember all the digits of a website's IP address? For example www.cbc.ca resolves to: 208.38.45.182. I think typing in www.cbc.ca is much easier. Dr. Mockapetris, the inventor of domain names, discusses in this BBC article about how the system of domain names was just a “laboratory curiosity”, but now we all know how indispensable it is. He envisions a time when we don't have phone numbers but Internet addresses. I think the day is coming faster than we suspect. The barrier, of course, will be how to connect remote areas of the planet to the Internet, but I'm sure something will be discovered and astound us all.
The man behind the “.com” and “.co.uk” system predicts the disappearance of phone numbers.
[BBC News | Business | E-Commerce | World Edition]
