The .com domain name, one of the original top-level domains (TLDs), was first created in January 1985. Its initial use was primarily for commercial entities. The “com” stands for “commercial,” and it was intended to designate organisations engaged in business activities.
At the dawn of the Internet, when ARPANET was transitioning to the Domain Name System (DNS), the intent was to categorise different types of organisations to make the growing network more organised. Along with .com, other early TLDs included .org (organisations), .net (network organisations), .edu (educational institutions), .gov (government), and .mil (military). The .com domain quickly became, and remains, the most widely used TLD due to the rapid commercialisation and growth of the internet.
The first .com domain names registered were:
symbolics.com (registered March 15, 1985)
bbn.com (registered April 24, 1985)
think.com (registered May 24, 1985)
mcc.com (registered July 11, 1985)
dec.com (registered September 30, 1985)
In 1985, the process for registering a .com domain name was significantly different and far less automated than it is today. At that time, the Internet was primarily an academic and government network, and domain name registration was handled manually by the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) under a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.
Here’s a general outline of the process:
Manual Request: There was no online registration portal. Individuals or organisations interested in a .com domain would typically submit a request directly to SRI, often via email (which was still a nascent technology) or even postal mail.
Justification: The request would need to include a justification for the domain name, demonstrating that the applicant was a commercial entity and that the requested name was appropriate and not duplicative.
Technical Information: Applicants were required to provide detailed technical information about their domain’s name servers, including IP addresses. This was because domain names were directly linked to specific servers and their numerical IP addresses.
Review and Approval: SRI personnel would review the request and the provided technical details. This was a manual vetting process to ensure compliance with the early Internet’s structural and naming conventions.
Manual Entry into DNS Root Servers: If approved, SRI would manually enter the new domain name and its associated IP addresses into the authoritative DNS root servers. This update would then propagate across the network.
No Fees (Initially): In the early days, there were generally no direct fees associated with registering a .com domain name. The costs were covered by government funding.
The process was largely based on trust and a relatively small number of requests, making it manageable for a manual system. As the Internet grew, this manual process became unsustainable, leading to the development of automated registration systems and the eventual privatisation of domain name registration services.