Earlier quoted context omitted.
.local isn't part of a global namespace, it's part of a local namespace. Sure you don't get an interesting name but you do get one.
What I’m trying to say is that if you’re going to have to install additional software, or make additional configuration on the requesting node, it doesn’t really matter if it’s .local or .tor or whatever, because the only reason it works is because you did that extra work: and when you’re in that situation, it doesn’t really make sense to compare it to “paid” domains because the reason you pay for a domain is just th…
For me, all my personal machines have TOR installed anyway and I mostly want public address for gluing things together or being able to access things remotely. It's definitely not usable for everything you normally use domain names for (like showing people the menu at a restaurant.)
I will point out that you don't need to do any extra work to access web servers on TOR at least. I think cloudfront (and I know others) run a proxy that lets you access them with just a normal URL via a web browser. Most OSes need no extra configuration for .local.