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Re: Change the subject! RE: [IAOC] Re: IPv4 Outage Planned for IETF71 Plenary

2007-12-28 15:12:07


Chris Lonvick wrote:
Hi,

Several people have written on this thread that they might not participate in this experiment because they either won't have an IPv6 stack or that they're unwilling to experiment with the network settings on their PCs. I'll suggest that those people can double their experimental fun in a very low risk way by booting a live linux distribution during the experiment.

While this looks like helpful information, for those able to use it, I think the point that the core point is still being missed:

Some folks do not have that kind of control over their laptops. They work for organizations which keep strict control over the software on the machines and/or the attendee does not happen to be someone who messes around with changes to their operating system.

While the press for testing IPv6 scenarios and demonstrating how to make many different ones work is definitely a Good Thing, the coercive quality about the approach to this particular exercise has an oddly macho tone:

     Real Geeks Hack Their Laptops.

In reality, it is entirely reasonable -- and for most of the world, essential -- for people to distinguish between a production platform and an experimental one, and to treat their mobile office platform as production.

Given the urgent need to get IPv6 more fully used, there is probably a good argument for forcing a public event like this (if it goes well... and maybe even if it doesn't) but we really ought to acknowledge that some attendees are disenfranchised.

d/

--

  Dave Crocker
  Brandenburg InternetWorking
  bbiw.net

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