IPv4 sunset date set for 2019-12-31

Thu Oct 21 18:59:29 UTC 2010

> They would be out of business the day they turn IPv4 off. So it will
> not
> happen.

IMO, this will not be a decision made by ICANN or a network provider. This will be made by a platform/OS company.

Basically, once IPv6 is presumed ubiquitous (it doesn't have to be actually ubiquitous) -- just if you can't reach something by IPv6 you assume it's the far-side's problem -- IPv4 becomes a relic from a business point-of-view, because anyone who doesn't support it is not presumed to be at fault. 

Microsoft, Apple, or gee-whiz-new-gadget guy simply has to come out with the next revision of their killer product that has dropped support for it. Many may complain, but with those that have sufficient market power to not see a significant affect (and can justify retasking their internal development resources who no longer have to regression test IPv4 stuff against any perceived customer loss) will do it -- they'll probably call it an upgrade. 

It's been done before. It'll happen again. 

This doesn't mean IPv4 will disappear. Just like the 20+ year old machines that are still on the net via IPv4 -> legacy protocol gateways, pockets of IPv4 may exist for decades via similar devices -- but at that point, we just dismiss those guys as crackpots.

Anyone have an IPv6 coke machine yet?

Deepak