"What's in a name?" Shakespeare's Juliet famously asked.  Apparently not much, for she said, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

In our Internet age, I think the answer is different.  Names, particularly Internet domain names, have become indispensable.  Without its name, an Internet business no longer exists.

A decade ago, however, many major businesses seemed clueless about domain names and the Internet.

In 1994, a Newsday reporter named Joshua Quittner called McDonalds to ask about domain names.  Remarkably, McDonalds.com was not registered at the time, and he wondered why.  The PR group knew ...   more »