[ppml] IPv6, Vista, and the Popular Press

[michael.dillon at bt.com]

> With the Board's recent step to get the IPv6 word out, is 
> there anything else the RIR community can do to head off the 
> advice of "just turn it off"?  If sysadmins are deinstalling 
> IPv6 support in OS's like Vista then deploying IPv6 is going 
> to be even more difficult.

If the board was serious about wanting to warn the public (at least the
part of the public that deals with newtorking) then they will issue
another press release repeating their warning and specifically
addressing comments which recommend turning of IPv6 in MS Vista systems.

Of course, the recommendations to disable IPv6 aren't wrong, they just
are not based on a clear understanding of how close IPv4 exhaustion is.
The board's duty, as trustees, is to educate people on the need for
action. If we are about to run out in 4 years time, one can expect that
within a year, this will result in increased requests for IPv4
addressing as well as changes in RIR policies making it harder to get an
allocation, i.e. more paperwork, more data, more involved checking
process. This really means that it is within current business planning
horizons. We may not run out of IPv4 in a year, but there will likely be
dramatic changes in RIR policies by then (2 ARIN policy cycles).

Disabling IPv6 is a wise move if it is coupled with pressure on vendors
to fix the problems, and a plan to have it turned back on again within
12 months.

--Michael Dillon