That's just it: Microsoft's deployed DNS server (Windows 2000 SP4 at least)
CAN. Folks here provided examples and demonstrations of how it can.
I agree that there are alternatives for DNS service, although most of
the suggestions seemed much too hacky for anything other than hobbyist
systems.
The insoluble problem for Windows users is on the client side.
Someone decided that there would never ever be an new DNS record type,
so their API for DNS requests has a separate call for every record
type. They'll have to release both new client libraries and firewall
services before hosts behind a firewall can see a new record type. I
agree this was a breathtakingly poor design decision, but there's too
many Windows boxes in the field to ignore it.
This same problem will affect any scheme that publishes info in the
DNS. Even if it defines new record types for new data (which is
clearly the right thing to do for DNS performance), it'll need some
sort of long-term transition kludge using existing record types.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl(_at_)taugh(_dot_)com, Taughannock Networks, Trumansburg NY
http://www.taugh.com