Re: IPv6-only devices?

[Keith Moore <moore@cs.utk.edu>]

On Thu, 6 Feb 2003 23:21:15 +0100
Ronald van der Pol <Ronald.vanderPol@rvdp.org> wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 06, 2003 at 16:16:09 -0500, Keith Moore wrote:
> 
> > What I'm pointing out is that trying to make every application speak
> > both IPv4 and IPv6 is a waste of energy.
> 
> I don't agree. Dual stack enables a smooth migration from v4 to v6,

Uh, no.  Not by a longshot.  For some applications (for instance, those that
do referrals) trying to support a mixture of IPv4 and IPv6 is a nightmare.

This is the sort of thing that needs to be evaluated on a per-application
basis.  Overgeneralizations such as "dual stack enables a smooth migration
from v4 to v6" are harmful.  And the assumption that both hosts are going to
upgrade to dual stack, and networks are going to support it, within a few
years, seems highly dubious.   The Internet is just too diverse to expect
everyone to migrate to v6 in the same way, and in the same timeframe.

Keith