A few weeks ago, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has approved that other, non-Latin scripts can be used for domain names. At the beginning of 2010 we can expect domains like: 首頁美.國政府門戶網站.正式, ввв.србија.срб etc.
But is it an outbreak of new revolution internet users all around the world will experience or just one more innovation that will make using internet to not-English speakers easier?
Perhaps, the best starting point to answer this question is looking at stat who are the internet users; according to the http://www.internetworldstats.com/, about 1.733 billion people or 25,5% of the total world population use internet. When we compare percentage of people who use internet by language they speak, we will find no correlation. Languages with other scripts than Latin like Chinese, Russian, Japanese or Korean have the same or even higher percentage of users than those languages that use Latin language.
Therefore, my opinion is that statement from the Heading of this text; originally statement from one official from ICANN, is exaggeration.
I do agree that will be useful for easer communication to some extent; find webpage you want more easily, advertise your webpage in domestic market or apply internet technology to some prospective users. There is also a bed side; companies will have to register domains for each language which will make additional expenses for them, communication the e-mails will be limited with different scripts.
This article also induced me to find relation of internet usage by other criteria, age, sex, etc. The strongest correlation I found is between internet usage and living standard. Looks like PC and internet connection is still luxury for most of the world, allocating all those second-had PC to those countries would not be bad solution.
Switching to domestic non-Latin scripts will certainly make some changes but the answer to question stated above is INOVATION, it will not revolutionary increase usage of internet or change the way people use internet. My opinion is it has more symbolic meaning of equality that every language deserves and struggle of countries for national identity in globalized world.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/hebrew-hindi-other-scripts-get-web-address-nod/article1344750
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Global_Internet_usage
http://www.websearchguide.ca/netblog/archives/009075.html
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OK, but would have liked a bit more. For example, you could add some insight from a unique perspective, since you come from (the only?) country where both Latin and Cyrillic alphabets are in common use.
A couple of other points: The G&M article you refer us to is a subscribers-only page. Yes, smart users can find the original, but don't make us work too hard for it! Second, when you cite Internet user numbers, it's always good to check a couple of sources. The one you use appears to be OK, as it says it aggregates from credible sources like the ITU, Nielsen, etc. But it is a marketing company called Miniwatts based in Bogota, Columbia, that appears to be in the business of selling market research...
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