Dangerous Dave's Dlog

But how do you know where to send the letter to in the first place? You send it to the website you want to see. But the problem is that the addresses of websites are hard to remember. They look something like this: 206.337.227.920

That's pretty hard to remember. What about if we could assign a name to that address so we could use an easy to remember name instead? Enter the DNS server. Basically it is a big list of addresses, and a list of the names associated with those addresses. When you type a web address into your browser, your browser sends a letter to the DNS server (whose IP address is usually stored on your computer, and by default assigned by your ISP), and the DNS server sends back a letter with the address of the domain name in it. Your computer will then cache (remember/store) this address in case it is needed in the future.

The problem with DNS servers is that usually they are hosted by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), and they are usually slow. This means there is a delay when accessing webpages whose IP address hasn't been cached.

About four years ago, a man by the name of David Ulevitch saw this problem, and decided to start a much faster version that anyone could use. It also offers several options, such as blocking certain addresses (so your kids can't access sites they shouldn't) and security features. This service is called OpenDNS.

About four years later, otherwise known as yesterday (or for some of you, today), Google launched their own DNS servers. Their aim is much the same, to be faster and more secure than your usual ISP DNS servers. Because of this, many people have seen the two systems as direct competitors. I have a different opinion.

Google have announced they have no intention of adding the features found in OpenDNS, rather that it should be an install it and ignore it service. This is they key to why OpenDNS and Google Public DNS are not direct competitors.

If OpenDNS users switch to Google DNS for more than testing purposes, then obviously OpenDNS wasn't offering the customisation level they were after (a common complain is redirect search pages). OpenDNS can either add a new option to mirror Google's, or let those users go.
On the other hand, though, Google releasing a DNS server will mean more widespread attention of non-ISP DNS servers. Lots more people will use these servers, and those Google DNS users who want more customisation will seek out another service. Oh look, OpenDNS does just what they want. They will gain back those users lost to Google, and maybe even a few more. Even better, everyone gets a service they enjoy using, and the overall number of people on these services grows, which can only be a good thing.

Anything that splits the market is a good idea, in my opinion. As for which to use? I haven't decided. A while back I used OpenDNS, but don't anymore. It got lost at some stage. I may try out Google Public DNS, just for the sake of it. But I would suggest you have a look at both, and see which is best for you. There is no clear winner, as they both provide different services (or rather much the same service in different ways).

-Dave

-Set up Google Public DNS (no account required)
-Set up OpenDNS (requires account signup, because of all the extra features)
-Open DNS vs Google Public DNS by OpenDNS founder