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from the don't-give-huge-blocks-to-businesses dept.
Things are looking up for our next-generation internet.
[...] But the shortage of IPv4 elbow room became a steadily worsening issue -- have you noticed all those phones that can connect to the network now, for example? So tech companies banded together to try to advance IPv6. The result: World IPv6 Day on June 8, 2011, when tech giants like Google, Facebook and Yahoo tested IPv6 sites to find any problems. For a sequel, they restarted those IPv6 connections and left them on starting on World IPv6 Launch Day, June 6, 2012.
Back then, there was still a risk that IPv6 wouldn't attract a critical mass of usage even with the tech biggies on board. The result would've been an internet complicated by multilayer trickery called network address translation, or NAT, that let multiple devices share the same IP address. But statistics released Wednesday by one IPv6 organizer, the Internet Society, show that IPv6 is growing steadily in usage, with about a quarter of us now using it worldwide. It looks like we're finally moving into a future that's been within our grasp since the Clinton administration.
"While there is obviously more to be done -- like roll out IPv6 to the other 75 percent of the Internet -- it's becoming clear that IPv6 is here to stay and is well-positioned to support the Internet's growth for the next several decades," said Lorenzo Colitti, a Google software engineer who's worked on IPv6 for years.
[...] How much room does IPv6 have? Enough to give network addresses to 340 undecillion devices -- that's two to the 128th power, or 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 if you're keeping score.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Thursday June 07 2018, @03:48PM (15 children)
Blame the C programmers.
As a Java programmer, what I write runs just fine on 32-bit or 64-bit. (The same object code even.)
Okay, well, there is this one application that uses enough gigabytes of memory (because of the size of the data sets) that 32-bit becomes unsuitable due to address space limitations.
But in general, my Java apps run perfectly fine on 32-bit or 64-bit. On all OSes. Even Raspberry PIs.
But . . . there seems to be more Linux distros dropping their 32-bit support. Thus the machines become obsolete from my POV. If I can't get an OS for them, then they are effectively useless. And even if Microsoft were to continue to have 32-bit support, you wouldn't expect me to use that surely? And what about Apple's 32-bit support?
I would also point out that a machine with only 4 GB of ram is starting to look obsolete anyway. At least in the environment I work in. (Yes, I know that a PI only has 1 GB, but I use it for different things.)
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:14PM (6 children)
Last I checked, Java runs in a virtual machine not directly on the CPU. And the JRE definitely cares about 32 or 64 bit CPUs.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:37PM (5 children)
That is correct. But I am abstracted (mostly) away from those details.
On the horizon we can see native Java ahead-of-time compilation coming. I'm not sure whether to rejoice or hide under my desk.
For my use of Java at work, I target only one platform, in practice. The production servers.
For my personal use I target Linux, RasPI, and sometimes Windows. For an insulting job I might target Linux, Windows, Mac, and even PI.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 07 2018, @06:30PM
The point is that no matter how far you may be abstracted away from the actual computer, somewhere at the bottom is code that needs to interact with the real metal. And that code, and the the people that write it, do need to care about 32-bit or 64-bit processors, and other architectural designs. And those people make choices about how many versions of the code they really want to develop and maintain. So if they decide they don't want, or don't have time, to support both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, guess which one is more likely to be axed.
(Score: 2, Funny) by NotSanguine on Thursday June 07 2018, @11:03PM (3 children)
I'd rather have my tonsils extracted through my ears. Java needs to die a slow, painful and ignominious death.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday June 08 2018, @01:47PM (2 children)
So do a lot of things. But good luck with that. Java is going to be around a long time. Nothing is perfect. Everything has warts. If there were one perfect language, everyone would already be using it.
I am genuinely curious though, what is it that gives you such passion about Java?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:29PM (1 child)
1. Oracle
2. Deployment nightmares due to version incomatibilities
3. Performance, or rather, lack thereof
4. Oracle
5. Because you like it! :)
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday June 11 2018, @02:33PM
I can't blame you for #1.
#2 is something that is within your (or your organization's) control. I generally don't have version incompatibility problems. But I begin deploying internal test servers, first one or two, then more, on new versions long before we consider putting new versions in production. Yet I manage to be far ahead of lots of people I hear that are still stuck on, say, Java 6. I am not running bleeding edge. But I tend to get to a MAJOR new version with significant differences, within about a year.
#3 is something we can disagree about. I value abstraction far more than performance. You can buy performance with bigger better hardware. I am optimizing for dollars. I am NOT optimizing for bytes and CPU cycles. Optimize for dollars. If I need 64 GB more ram, my bosses will give it to me if I can beat my competitor to market.
#4, can't argue with you there.
#5, I am left puzzled. (and right puzzled)
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:22PM (4 children)
These seem to be facets of "shiny new stuff" syndrome. Programmers, finally realizing that they need to not reinvent the wheel, depend on libraries. That's generally "good". But many libraries have been "improved" with instructions/features (perhaps coincidentally) found only in 64-bit processors, meaning their 32-bit legacy versions get dropped instead of maintained in parallel.
Cascading results include programs that would otherwise work fine on any arbitrary level of bittiness losing 32-bit support because their library dependencies have lost 32-bit support. And operating system vendors watching their upstream pools of 32-bit software shrink before their very eyes as new versions require the shiny new 64-bit only libraries (despite not requiring the shiny new features therein).
In my humble opinion, this is a "bad thing" with respect to GNU/Linux distributions and operating systems in general, as 32-bit machines in general are as capable and hardy as they ever were, and it's getting to the point where you have to run old, unpatched, unmaintained software on them, or add concrete and chain and repurpose them as boat anchors.
With respect to IPv6, the corresponding process might be a good thing, and might not. One certainly hopes that it takes off and works and we go to a practically all-IPv6 internetworking universe.
But frankly I am still not sure that IPv6 is going to catch on, the hopeful and forward-looking language of TFA notwithstanding.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Thursday June 07 2018, @05:04PM (3 children)
Here's why I think it will.
IPv4 addresses are a limited resource. (Well, so is IPv6, but in slightly more abundance, see other posts here about how the address space is somewhat larger)
IPv4 addresses were all allocated in 2014 -- which is why the Mayan's ended their calendar. End of the world, etc.
Now it is just an economic market of who can buy, sell and trade IPv4 addresses as they are needed. Static IPv4s will be harder and more expensive to buy.
IPv6 addresses will be plentiful and cheap. Like nuclear power, so cheap we won't even have to meter it, or so they said.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Thursday June 07 2018, @05:41PM (2 children)
I so want you to be exactly right. But the solution is a problem. That solution being the temporary one, NAT, and the problem being that many shrug and say "Ah, who cares, a ten|one-(seventy|ninety)-two dot whatever NAT address is just as good as a real one, with virtual hosts and all."
Even my ISP hands out not real addresses, but 10.0.x.x NAT ones, to cable modem customers (unless you cough up $10 a month to get a real IPv4 address, which is very rare, judging by the surprise of the tech support and customer service people when I said I needed a real IP address). Almost no one knows or cares. (I was furious, and let them know it. This was my introduction to CGNAT.)
NAT addresses are not good enough, by any measure, except the 80/20 rule: 80% of the people have a networking IQ of about 20, and therefore don't know or care about IP addressing.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 07 2018, @06:00PM
You're way off.
80/20? Ha!
More like 99.99/0.01.
And, that's not just for networking; that's for everything.
Virtually nobody has control over anything, and virtually nobody knows how anything works, anyway. Each person has fallen into a certain position within the Great Machine, and just does one little repetitious action before dying one day.
That's why you can't ever get through to someone to help you solve your problems, such as getting a "real" IP. Your only interface to the rest of the world is a nebulous cloud of know-nothings in the 99.99%, who don't even know where the sentient 0.01% are.
When you realize this, the whole world starts to make a lot more sense.
Give up now, while you can. Have a beer, and watch a show on Netflix.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 07 2018, @09:18PM
You're way off.
80/20? Ha!
More like 99.99/0.01.
And, that's not just for networking; that's for everything.
Virtually nobody has control over anything, and virtually nobody knows how anything works, anyway. Each person has fallen into a certain position within the Great Machine, and just does one little repetitious action before dying one day.
That's why you can't ever get through to someone to help you solve your problems, such as getting a "real" IP. Your only interface to the rest of the world is a nebulous cloud of know-nothings in the 99.99%, who don't even know where the sentient 0.01% are.
When you realize this, the whole world starts to make a lot more sense.
Give up now, while you can. Have a beer, and watch a show on Netflix.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday June 07 2018, @05:57PM
I think 10.4 had 64-bit command line programs with a 32-bit kernel. 10.5 had 64-bit GUI and command line, 32-bit kernel. 10.6 had a 64-bit kernel.
The current macOS is 10.13.4. The current macOS that actually _works_ is 10.12.5 or maybe .6. Apple announced 10.14 at their developer conference on monday but it's only available to paid dev program members.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Thursday June 07 2018, @10:32PM (1 child)
Got to jump in with smart-ass-ery here. As a user of applications written in java, it seems that 32 or 64 bit is indeed much less important, however, the damned java version installed on a PC seems to be all the rage - to the point where one of the nearby teams have to use VMs with specific versions of java installed just to keep their (horribly supported) business applications functional. Java was supposed to be a perfect world - write once - work everywhere solution, I remember the damned sales pitch. It's ended up rather different!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @05:37AM
Sales pitches and reality generally don't match. Actual developers quickly turned that slogan into "write once, debug everywhere."