.com

.COM is also the extension of the DOS COM file, an extension used for executables.

.com is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) used on the Internet's Domain Name System. It was one of the original top-level domains, established in January 1985. It is currently operated by VeriSign. It is consistently pronounced as a word, dot-com, and has entered the common language this way; in contrast, though some of the other TLDs are also sometimes pronounced as words, they're also frequently spelled out instead, something that is never done with .com.

Although .com domains have always been intended for commercial use, they are currently available for anyone to register. In the 1990s, .com became the most common top-level domain for websites, especially commercial ones, and gave its name to dot-com companies. The introduction of .biz, which is restricted to businesses, has had little impact on the popularity of .com.

Although companies anywhere in the world can register .com domains, many countries have a second-level domain with a similar purpose under their own ccTLD. Such second-level domains are usually of the form .com.xx or .co.xx, where xx is the ccTLD. Australia (.com.au), the United Kingdom (.co.uk), Mexico (.com.mx), New Zealand (.co.nz), People's Republic of China (.com.cn), Japan (.co.jp) and South Korea (.co.kr) are all examples.

Often, noncommercial sites such as those of nonprofit organizations, governments, and so on will use .com addresses, which some find to be contrary to the domain's original purpose. A .org, .gov, or other more specific TLD might be more appropriate for such sites.

List of oldest .com domains

The following are the 75 oldest still-existing registered .com domains:

Rank   Create date     Domain name
1.  	15-Mar-1985	SYMBOLICS.COM
2.  	24-Apr-1985	BBN.COM
3.  	24-May-1985	THINK.COM
4.  	11-Jul-1985	MCC.COM
5.  	30-Sep-1985	DEC.COM
6.  	07-Nov-1985	NORTHROP.COM
7.  	09-Jan-1986	XEROX.COM
8.  	17-Jan-1986	SRI.COM
9.  	03-Mar-1986	HP.COM
10.  	05-Mar-1986	BELLCORE.COM
11.  	19-Mar-1986	IBM.COM
11.  	19-Mar-1986	SUN.COM
13.  	25-Mar-1986	INTEL.COM
13.  	25-Mar-1986	TI.COM
15.  	25-Apr-1986	ATT.COM
16.  	08-May-1986	GMR.COM
16.  	08-May-1986	TEK.COM
18.  	10-Jul-1986	FMC.COM
18.  	10-Jul-1986	UB.COM
20.  	05-Aug-1986	BELL-ATL.COM
20.  	05-Aug-1986	GE.COM
20.  	05-Aug-1986	GREBYN.COM
20.  	05-Aug-1986	ISC.COM
20.  	05-Aug-1986	NSC.COM
20.  	05-Aug-1986	STARGATE.COM
26.  	02-Sep-1986	BOEING.COM
27.  	18-Sep-1986	ITCORP.COM
28.  	29-Sep-1986	SIEMENS.COM
29.  	18-Oct-1986	PYRAMID.COM
30.  	27-Oct-1986	ALPHACDC.COM
30.  	27-Oct-1986	BDM.COM
30.  	27-Oct-1986	FLUKE.COM
30.  	27-Oct-1986	INMET.COM
30.  	27-Oct-1986	KESMAI.COM
30.  	27-Oct-1986	MENTOR.COM
30.  	27-Oct-1986	NEC.COM
30.  	27-Oct-1986	RAY.COM
30.  	27-Oct-1986	ROSEMOUNT.COM
30.  	27-Oct-1986	VORTEX.COM
40.  	05-Nov-1986	ALCOA.COM
40.  	05-Nov-1986	GTE.COM
42.  	17-Nov-1986	ADOBE.COM
42.  	17-Nov-1986	AMD.COM
42.  	17-Nov-1986	DAS.COM
42.  	17-Nov-1986	DATA-IO.COM
42.  	17-Nov-1986	OCTOPUS.COM
42.  	17-Nov-1986	PORTAL.COM
42.  	17-Nov-1986	TELTONE.COM
42.  	11-Dec-1986	3COM.COM
50.  	11-Dec-1986	AMDAHL.COM
50.  	11-Dec-1986	CCUR.COM
50.  	11-Dec-1986	CI.COM
50.  	11-Dec-1986	CONVERGENT.COM
50.  	11-Dec-1986	DG.COM
50.  	11-Dec-1986	PEREGRINE.COM
50.  	11-Dec-1986	QUAD.COM
50.  	11-Dec-1986	SQ.COM
50.  	11-Dec-1986	TANDY.COM
50.  	11-Dec-1986	TTI.COM
50.  	11-Dec-1986	UNISYS.COM
61.  	19-Jan-1987	CGI.COM
61.  	19-Jan-1987	CTS.COM
61.  	19-Jan-1987	SPDCC.COM
64.  	19-Feb-1987	APPLE.COM
65.  	04-Mar-1987	NMA.COM
65.  	04-Mar-1987	PRIME.COM
67.  	04-Apr-1987	PHILIPS.COM
68.  	23-Apr-1987	DATACUBE.COM
68.  	23-Apr-1987	KAI.COM
68.  	23-Apr-1987	TIC.COM
68.  	23-Apr-1987	VINE.COM
72.  	30-Apr-1987	NCR.COM
73.  	14-May-1987	CISCO.COM
73.  	14-May-1987	RDL.COM
75.  	20-May-1987	SLB.COM

External link

• IANA .com whois information (http://www.iana.org/root-whois/com.htm)
• RFC 920 defined .com and the other original top-level domains.es:.com