Why does there have to be a root?

Some people have proposed an even more diverse system than my trademarked TLDs, namely the elimination of a root altogether. These rootless systems would simply allow anybody to declare to be a directory, and hope to get customers. To look up a name, you would need to know both the directory company and a way to reach it, and the name within it.

Their plans don't work because they don't meet the goals that a lot of people have for DNS. They simply move the question up another level, since there needs to be some way of identifying and finding the directory companies, and that's a root with another name.

I want to be able to hand people a business card. On it I want an E-mail address that's not too hard to read and type or remember. The E-mail address has to be 100% reliable. It shouldn't go to different people depending on which directory service they subscribe to. It shouldn't work for some people and not for others.

A rootless DNS doesn't solve that problem.