> 
> Register the name for free to the first prior applicant. If they
> don't want it, continue down the list until you find an applicant
> who wants it. If no applicants want it for free, then release it
> for general registration.
> 

What about those many people that do read the rules (or were properly
advised by their supplier of domain name services), and didn't apply for a
generic name in the first place?  Your proposal above is unfair to those
that read and conform to the rules in place at the time.  

Perhaps to be fair we should start with the first person who ever registered
a domain name, and offer them the complete list, and then move through all
registrants in order of their applying for a domain name (greater than
200,000).  Given that each should have about 5 days to respond, we should be
finished the process in about 2,700 years.

Bruce