What have the V6 folks ever done for us?

What have the V6 folks ever done for us?

This reminds me of that sketch in Monty Python's "Life of Brian". Here are some things that v6 supplies (aside from addresses):

• IP Mobility (move your laptop between networks or entire Internet providers without dropping any connections and with minimal risk of even dropping packets)
• Network Mobility (move an entire network between networks, without anybody losing connections - useful for a WAP on a bus, train or aircraft)
• IPSec (actual high-level security at the packet level without needing application support and no risk of contextual information exposing the protected information)
• Automatic configuration (DHCP-less, clash-resistant, admin-less)
• Anycasting (ask for a service/information and ye shall receive from the nearest provider)

Some of these have been backported to IPv4, but the IPv4 versions aren't always terribly interoperable and aren't efficient as they're not designed in.

Some are not obviously useful - mobility? - but when you consider the headaches they're having with IP on any mass transit system (having a single monopolistic ISP is a "popular" solution, where a current solution even exists), the sole benefit of having a static solution over a dynamic one is that one ISP gets richer. Oh, you thought you got a benefit from it? Gimme a break.

(In fact, it is very likely the anti-monopolistic nature of IPv6 that is hindering adoption. If it had allowed companies like AT&T or Telus to pwn the Internet, it would have been adopted globally in a week. It is precisely because it empowers users to do their own thing that network providers are avoiding it like the plague.)