> general availability has nothing to do with "being used" agreed. but unlike OSI, there are reasons for applications to use IPv6. however the applications that use IPv6 may not be as visible as many of those applications that use IPv4 - for instance IPv6 will be used more often for monitoring and control of remote devices and sensors - applications for which address space shortages effectively preclude use of IPv4.
> the OSI protocol implementations were available on all major > platforms at the time. and "available" has nothing to do with either "useful" or "bundled with the OS" :) > if "two ships in the night" is an acceptable transition strategy, > then why did we place all the stupid compatability rules on > the protocols?? because it is very useful to be able to do packet-level translation for those devices/applications that are compatible with it. the fact that packet-level translation doesn't facilitate v4-v6 interoperation for all applications doesn't mean it's not useful. of course "two ships in the night" was not what was originally intended, it's just what turned out to be realistic in the short term. and it doesn't preclude an eventual translation in the long term, it just makes it easier to get started. the point was if people get stuck on the end goal of a complete transition to v6, then they can miss the fact that IPv6 has utility for new applications even while we're waiting for the IPv4 world to migrate. and this utility can help drive near-term deployment of IPv6. > this whole thing is intellectually bankrupt. > > many good ideas were shouted down because they didn't meet > some Athenean standard purity, yet when the sanctified answer > is found to have a much worse case of Failure to Solve the > Real Problems, those standards are completely suspended and > victory is declared again and again without regard to history. > > Ya know, if we'd just done TUBA, we'd have gotten to this > degree of non-success MANY YEARS sooner and with a lot less > wasted effort. then the effort and time would have been > available to pursue a real Plan B. > > but that was then, this is now. lots of water under the bridge since then. and the circumstances have changed drastically since the shape of the IPv6 design was frozen. even with less ambitious efforts, it seems that we often end up using protocols in ways that are very different from those for which they were designed. and the correct path is always more obvious in hindsight. > In the movie "Animal House", in the closing sequence where > the homecoming parade is being decimated by the unwelcomed > arrival of a swift kick of reality, the Junior Deputy Chief > of Truth Management is seen in quick cut after quick cut, > jumping up and down, screaming "All is well!!!!" louder and > with more anguish each time, until he's finally bowled over. maybe we should just yell "For god's sake, they're looting the Food King!" to distract those who can't deal with it. Keith
