You know that domain that you want?...well, it's taken. At least the .com version of it anyway. What else is there, unless you want to be a .org, or carry the patriotic flag of your country as in .de (Germany) or .uk (United Kingdom)?
It's true, soon anyone will be able to register and buy any top-level domain. Top-level being the 'thing' after the 'period', as in .'com'. But it ain't cheap. At almost $200k, top-level or root domain's are not like buying URL's already associated with a .com. In other words, it's not for you and me - but meant for companies, industry verticals, causes, political parties, countries, cities, or even towns that can afford it. Big brands like Canon Cameras are already in line to purchase .Canon.
Does all this really matter? Yes - in a big way. My guess is that as this is adopted, more and more folks will align with a common navigation, much in the same way that desktop applications follow the same menu options. Let me explain. Lets say a brand like Nike bought .Nike. Rather than having to go to the homepage to find out how to find information on its officers, products or careers, you will most likely just be able to type in officers.nike, products.nike or careers.nike - something that is impossible to do today because we do not know the web-directory structure that the company uses. Companies also do not follow a common directory structure as directories are often based upon navigation and slaves to .com. Even more importantly most folks are not used to thinking that way...this will change.
This change will make things simpler for everyone to start using a common language - much like the menus across most applications. You could of course always navigate to the homepage to find what it is you are looking for, or just Google it. But chances are, since companies will now control the root, along with related re-directs, that you will be able to easily navigate directly to your general area of interest as we all start to use similar terminology and naming conventions.
Google may not be happy about that.
Are We Ready for the Era of .Anything? 
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