On Thu, Apr 12, 2007 at 11:11:54AM +0200, Iljitsch van Beijnum wrote:
I have a Cisco 2500 with software from 1999 and a Windows XP box with software from 2001, both supporting IPv6, sitting here... I didn't get my first Mac until 2002, but that one supported IPv6 at that point, too.
It would be foolish to suggest that software implementing IPv6 has not existed for many years. It would also be foolish to use "support IPv6" as a blanket statement, when the features have not truly been usable by more than bearded geeks.
There is a provisioning problem with IPv6, yes.
Note that the word 'provisioning' is more than just 'addressing'. A given ISP may or may not directly communicate with end hosts using any form of DHCP, but the current broadband ISP models which are de rigeur would not be salient without DHCPv4 on the end hosts, even if that is only between the set top box and customer. So it might not be "their job", but it's still an important facet of the architecture. One could say that although a DHCP department doesn't exist within ISP's, there would have been a need for a staffed department in its absence. I remember the era when we used to deliver "install" floppies to our prospective customers. And I can tell you they weren't a very good idea. Web pages full of instructions, flyers with "simple to follow" steps, none of them really worked very well either. Even if our iconic mascots trying to make the instructions friendlier were awfully cute. What DHCP and PPP did do, was to remove all of that, and make ISP integration of customer premise something that could "just happen" without any handholding or bearded geekery. When you can plug your computer in, and automatically (with no clicking) get an IPv6 address, have something tell you where your DNS assist servers, configure web proxies, and solve your dynamic dns problems (as IPv4 set top boxes do today), then I would allow you the use of the words 'supports IPv6' rather than 'implements IPv6'. On the subject of DNS, I think you are going to find that, since IPv6 addresses do not pass the 'phone test', IPv6 customers will have a new emphasis on having their names in DNS. But these are forward looking statements, and it's equally possible that people will be moved instead to use presence networks. -- David W. Hankins "If you don't do it right the first time, Software Engineer you'll just have to do it again." Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. -- Jack T. Hankins