With Namecoin anyone can design new naming protocols based on consensus. That's not possible with ICANN's DNS (the Internet is centralized in this regard - nobo

With Namecoin anyone can design new naming protocols based on consensus. That's not possible with ICANN's DNS (the Internet is centralized in this regard - nobody can change the semantics of ".com"). New naming protocols are a huge deal => for searching & finding any information, for Identification, and more. Namecoin did not get it right, and PoW style blockchains are too complicated. But potentially one gets things like single-sign on, integrated micropayments, and things which are hard to imagine (smart contracts, etc.).