The annual cycle is quite nice from a buyer’s perspective too, when I need a new phone I’ve got a reasonable idea that Google aren’t going to release a new device in a couple of months and leave me feeling shafted.

Why can’t they just make it a gTLD?

Certainly it could be, I would like to see some proper study done into it, but it’s probably borderline impossible.

Conversely patents are somewhat unobtainable by the average Joe, I think I saw it costing somewhere in the region of 25-50k to patent something by the time you factor in the cost of a decent patent lawyer.

Maybe a 10-15 year patent period with lower barrier to entry would be a good thing.

Isn’t that pretty much how parents work already? They’re extensible, sure, but only up to 20 years total. Not only that but you’re forced to document it too.