However, some of his pre-departure comments published today on the Stuff.co.nz website (link in headlines below) must truly call into question his true understanding of the Domain name industry.

The article quotes O'Brien as saying that he "fears ".nz" Internet addresses could "wither away" if Domainz assumes a "narrow technical focus."

What a load of garbage!

The rest of the stuff.co.nz article is full of similar comments from O'Brien which I'm sure some would challenge as more "spin" than reality.

Readers Say No Comments Yet Have Your Say

One of the reasons so many people have been opting for a dot-com domain rather than a dot-co-dot-nz one is that under Domainz monopoly mis-management, many of the most efficient and effective sales outlets for dot-nz domain names have been alienated. This (and the lame redesign of the Domainz website) has had the effect of making it just too damned difficult to register and maintain a dot-nz domain name when compared to the slick service offered by registrars of the dot-com namespace.

It's now also far cheaper to register a dot-com domain name than it is to register a dot-nz and this is a change brought about by the very registry competition that Mr O'Brien has fought so long and hard to suppress in the dot-nz namespace.

It will be exceedingly interesting to see how i-DNS, O'Brien's new employer, fares under his influence. It will also be exceedingly interesting to see just who is selected as the new interim CEO of Domainz and how well the implement a shift to a shared registry system.

We live in exciting times.

The Bleeding Obvious
NZ's productivity has slipped yet again and is now ranked as 20th in the world, down seven places in a year.

At the top of the ladder we have the USA.

Now I hope it hasn't escaped the politicians of this country -- but it is widely agreed that the productivity gains achieved in the USA have come as an effect of their embrace of the new economy and technologies it involves.

It's not that New Zealand is less productive than it was a year ago -- it's just that while the rest of the world has already woken up to the fact that it's absolutely essential to stimulate new economy industries and benefit from the productivity increase that this produces -- New Zealand seems to still be living under the misconception that raw primary produce is still the shape of its economic future.

Included in the top 10 are (of course) the USA, Ireland and Finland -- all countries which are being driven by a strong new economy.

This is pretty obvious stuff so I must wonder what they putting in the coffee down there at the Beehive.

Some Input Please
The more observant amongst you will have noticed that I've been trying a number of new ideas here in recent months.

Some, like the "Lighten Up" section have been very popular and I'm keen to hear from you exactly what else you'd like to see included on these pages.

Drop me a line and tell me where you'd like to see this site headed and what extra services you'd like added. No promises but all suggestions will be welcomed.

As always, your feedback is welcomed.