Arabic web domain: Your emails

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Egypt says it will apply for the first Internet domain written in Arabic. The new domain name will be .masr written in the Arabic alphabet - which translates as .egypt. Here is a selection of emails on the subject from BBC readers in Egypt.

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Arabic on the address bar is a great idea to return our native tongue.Ahmad, Cairo

It feels great that Arabs will finally be able to communicate through the internet in Arabic and that Egypt will be the pioneer country in this revolution. We can predict that a lot of new users will have an easier access to the Internet because of this. Ibrahim Gamal Eldin, Alexandria, Egypt

That's great news. But I guess we should have new keyboards to make it easy to write the dot from right to left Eslam Mounir, Alexandria , Egypt

It doesn't really mean anything in the scheme of things - Egypt has one of the highest rates in the world of bloggers being detained or threatened. This is like being given new alloy wheels for your car when there are radar sensors making you go 20km/hr all over the place. It's sad to see the people who installed those same radars boast about something relatively so superficial.Hazem Zohny, Cairo, Egypt

I think this is, eventually, a great step in the right direction. Egypt was, is and will be the cradle for culture in the Arab and Islamic world.Haytham Abd al-Lateef, Egypt

Regarding the .masr domain extension it would have been a very positive thing if only the government wasn't responsible for it and it can be registered at any common registrar as the current domain extensions. Regarding the non-Latin domain names, I think if the decision is already taken, then I strongly recommend that one language should be implemented at a time to avoid any conflicts or inconsistency issues to the domain industry. IT Consultant /Webmaster.George F Zekri, Cairo, Egypt

In reality, I believe this might actually be a step backwards in some ways for Egyptian youth and Arabic internet users in general. Most of the social networking websites have already implemented this. I agree, this is an amazing achievement, something that we can use as our own, in our own language, but I also believe this will hinder Egyptians from learning and seeing more frequently English; which is what most need to master in order to succeed in their jobs. Sheen Atwa, Cairo, Egypt

That's great and great leap for Arabic on an international level Wael Alaa, Cairo

I believe it is a great success and a big achievement which will definitely help in making a wider number of Egyptians and Arabs aware of what is going on in the world in a very transparent way. Meanwhile more people will get involved in the usage of new technologies. Nagui T. El-Fayoumi, Cairo - Egypt

I'm not Egyptian but I welcome the step and hope it will permit more Arab contributions online.Shayya Mohammad, Beirut Lebanon

I must thank the government for this effort to make a new domain with name 'masr'. It makes me proud to see my country's name on the internet. Concerning the bloggers and the political dissidents, I think that their claims are not right; our government gives us a wide range of freedom. You can speak frankly and tell your opinion and you can see newspapers in Egypt - are all of the journalists arrested? No, I think that our government is improving its branches to cope with the new innovations all over the world .Ahmed Omar Koriem, Cairo