There's a lot of talk about competing root systems these days. So I thought I'd point out a note I wrote on the topic back in 1999.
Most of those who are commenting on the matter are mixing two separate issues: That of multiple roots and that of singularity of content of the various top level domains (TLDs.)
It is quite possible to have multiple root systems that are entirely consistant with one another. The key to this is that the TLDs have the same content no matter which root system is used to find them: .com, .net, .ewe, etc would all have the same content.
Here's that reference to my 1999 note: Multiple Roots are "a good thing"
Update: I have tried to further clarify these matters in a note to the Politech list: http://www.politechbot.com/2005/10/06/karl-auerbach-replies/
Posted by karl at October 3, 2005 10:17 AM