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In a Commonwealth Nations Research Society (CNRS) Internet poll created on 21 February 2008 and closed today, Internet navigators were asked the following question: "Which alternative top-level domain (TLD) would you create for the Commonwealth of Nations? Please note that .CN has been taken by China already, so it is not an option."
Four different and suitable options were given for a top-level domain (TLD) representing the entire Commonwealth, and Internet navigators were allowed to pick their favourite choice among the four different TLD options — .CW, .CTH, .CWTH and .BCN — for over four months.
The results of the poll are now in, and the winning TLD was the .CW with 52 out of 77, or approximately 67.5 percent of all votes.
As a result of this poll, on 4 July 2008, the day on which the United States celebrates its independence from what is today, in effect, the Commonwealth of Nations, the .CW TLD was activated, and now the first .CW domain, the cnrs.cw activated for the Commonwealth Nations Research Society's own use, is working flawlessly in the Cesidian Root, an intercontinental alternative DNS root.
James Alcock, Member of the CNRS International Committee, has expressed the desire to also activate the domains of Commonwealth member nations, not just the ca.cw, au.cw, nz.cw and uk.cw, domains representing Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, but also the domains of other Commonwealth member nations such as India, South Africa, Singapore and others as well. Mr. Alcock also intends to issue specific domains for other Commonwealth organisations besides the Commonwealth Nations Research Society, such as a domain for the Commonwealth Secretariat website.
Happy Independence Day, Commonwealth of Nations!
