[andy_ppp]

Or even end up with low quality generic defaults for things like routing in react because someone got the default name of say the routing library.

[mstade]

Presumably, if you really want short names, a local hosts like config with aliased names would do the job just fine. This has the added benefit that everyone can have their own aliases.

[cjbprime]

No, I think the attraction to centralization is not only that it can provide short names, but that it can provide short names that everyone agrees on the meaning of.

[WorldMaker]

Which is a fascinating echo of the arguments between proponents of AOL Keywords and DNS.