Whether the above comments hold water or not, I couldn't say, but I can't help but wonder just how much sense .blog makes in light of Automattic's agenda of pushing WordPress as a CMS, and not just a blog engine.

By the time they've realised that grabbing the fast/easy money was a bad idea it will take years to undo, if ever.

And besides, do they really want to become synonymous with a failing Google blogging platform in the public's mind?

I find this really a really strange.