Critics, including ICANN chairman Vint Cerf, argue that there’s nothing new about New.net’s idea. Others cheer the introduction of an alternative to the ICANN-administered root. Meanwhile, operators of long-standing alternative roots cite conflicts with nearly every one of New.net’s TLDs.

"We don’t expect everyone to love us," says New.net chief marketing officer Steve Chadima. He explains that the company approached several alternative root administrators, as well as several unsuccessful ICANN gTLD applicants, convincing one, .KIDS Domains, Inc., to act as a registry for New.net. "They initially argued, ‘We own the right to the .kids domain.’ But when we pushed them, they flat-out admitted that they don’t have any legal rights or claim to the domain, but they’d been working on it for a long time. They were honest. Others contacted us and said, ‘This is my trademark! You can’t do this!’

There are some collisions, but we’re more than willing to work with these folks if they have the capability to be a registry on a large scale--although probably not with TLDs that we’ve chosen. It may sound a little cold, but I think that if people who are operating these tiny roots would consider being a registrar for us instead of trying to run their own registries, they’d end up doing much better for themselves."