GoDaddy copies Network Solutions

Some quick ramblings from me…

Why is this news? Well, I was the person responsible for getting Network Solutions off of it’s old InterNIC system to the newer WorldNIC system and then finally build and migrate everyone to what exists today. What exists today is a very robust Account Management system that meets the needs of our customers. One that has been doing what GoDaddy just implemented from the beginning – and I like to think in no small way thanks to me.

This feature is more important then one might think. It allows someone to give limited access to their domain and services to help them manage those services. Unfortunately, due to the rampant fraud out there, giving complete control (when you give someone else your username and password) is a very risky endeavor and this is the only secure way one should allow someone else to manager your domain and associated services.

You see, Network Solutions Account Manager is built on a system between users and accounts. Users have relationships to one or more accounts and that relationship describes the permissions one has with a given account and as such the services in that account. For those of you familiar with whois, this relationship is independent of whois. Technically speaking, whois contacts are specific to a given domain. We do try and make it easty for someone to assign a contact to an account and then use that contact for whois information.

There are some differences between GoDaddy’s and Network Solutions implementation. The biggest is that they create a relationship between a user and a domain only. As such, if you want to have your AccountExec maintain other services besides a domain, your just SOL at GoDaddy. Here is where I just have to say it, our implementation is better!