As we journey into the year 2024, a gloomy spectre haunts the Internet. Despite the ongoing promises and assertions of tech elites, IPv6 is still largely ignored or poorly supported. It's like a guest at a party who everyone knows, but no one really wants to engage in conversation with - mostly because they keep going on about 'subnetting' and 'hexadecimal'.
IPv4 addresses were supposed to have run out more times than we can count - or at least, more times than there are IPv4 addresses. Yet, somehow, devices continue to pop up online, sporting their classic dotted-decimal notation. Your toaster demands an IP, your fridge asserts its digital citizenship, your toothbrush insists it's a significant node on the network.
IPv6, gaming its 340 undecillion addresses (a number so big it was probably invented by a mathematician on a sugar high), has been waiting in the wings, ready to tackle the expanding Internet of Things. But it seems as if the Internet and its various 'Things' want to make the IPv4 party last just a little longer. The exhausted IPv4 DJ keeps the music playing.
It's not that human ingenuity is lacking, or that we don't need an ample address space for the growing array of connected devices. However, IPv4 is the comfort zone, the known devil. Even the Mars Rovers prefer them. Dear IPv6, it might be necessary, or even superior, but change is tough for everyone.
But stay strong, IPv6. Remember, people once laughed at the notion of electric cars and reusable rockets. Change might take time, but when it happens, it's revolu... Joystick not supported (error: out of IPv4 addresses).
