Here's a story from The Reg in 2015: https://www.theregister.com/2015/03/13/google_developer_gtld_domain_icann/ https://www.theregister.com/2015/03/13/google_de

Here's a story from The Reg in 2015: https://www.theregister.com/2015/03/13/google_developer_gtld_domain_icann/ https://www.theregister.com/2015/03/13/google_developer_gtld... They quote from Google's application for .dev in 2013: "The proposed gTLD will provide Google with direct association to the term 'dev', which is an abbreviation of the word 'development'. The mission of this gTLD, .dev, is to provide a dedicated domain space in which Google can enact second-level domains specific to its projects in development." Google finally opened it to registration in 2019, four years later: https://www.theregister.com/2019/02/21/google_launches_dev/ https://www.theregister.com/2019/02/21/google_launches_dev/ (Google also added .dev to the HSTS preload list so browsers expect names in that domain to only be reachable via HTTPS, thus breaking in-house uses of .dev.)