Stalling the Net by default?

Among the new features Microsoft is building into Windows Vista is support for IP version 6, which is expected to alleviate a scarcity of Net addresses under the current IP version 4. However, IPv6 isn't universally used yet, meaning that Vista will be set by default to make two DNS (domain name system) requests--one for each version.

With many DNS servers already running close to capacity, that , according to Paul Mockapetris, who is widely credited with inventing DNS.

"If you adopt Vista, your DNS traffic is going to double," Mockapetris said. "You're going to see brownouts. All of a sudden, it is going to be mud season on the Internet, where things will just be kind of slow and gooey."

To find out what people on the street make of it, we asked our Vista Views panel, made up of ordinary readers, these questions: Vista's double lookup of DNS addresses has raised concerns that Internet traffic will become overloaded. To alleviate this, should Microsoft set this feature at "off" by default? In fact, should all optional features be set at "off" by default for non-savvy users?

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Kevin Faaborg

I think that in short, IPv6 should be disabled in Vista until IPv6 is commonplace for standard Net traffic. Then by a "patch" for consumers or a special "tweak" by a business customer (if needed in advance) should it then be re-enabled.

Kevin Faaborg works in basic hardware and software guidance for a large financial corporation, but he has experience in more computer sales-based jobs.

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Wallace Wang

I think it's a no-brainer that Vista (or any operating system for that matter) should have its basic features turned on by default and its more advanced features turned off.

In the specific case of Vista, it only makes sense for Vista to have IPv4 turned on by default, with the option to turn on IPv6--either by itself or with IPv4 too, which is Vista's current default setting.

The biggest problem with any default settings occurs mostly with security. Having default settings that constantly annoy the user with questions about running a program or allowing an action to occur will get so troublesome that most users will just get in the habit of clicking "Yes" all the time, which defeats the default security settings. However, leaving default security settings off invites malicious attacks, which is what has made Windows so vulnerable in the first place.

When it comes to security, there probably is no "perfect" default setting, because you can't expect a technological solution to solve a people problem like hacker and malware attacks all by itself. But when it comes to other settings in an operating system, the "perfect" default setting should be one that offers the user access to commonly needed features without requiring the user to interact with the operating system at all.

In other words, the best default settings should be the ones that make the operating system transparent to the user.

Wallace Wang is a freelance computer journalist and author whose books include "Microsoft Office for Dummies" and "Steal This Computer Book."

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Mark Casazza

All optional "features" should always be set to OFF by default. If an option is useful to the person using the computer, then he/she can change the setting whenever appropriate.

However, Vista will not appreciably slow down the Web with its current settings. It could have an effect if it was suddenly and widely adopted, but from all indications I've seen, it will at best trickle into use. Thus any increase in traffic will build slowly and give network administrators plenty of time to accommodate the additional traffic.

Mark Casazza is the director of academic information for the City University of New York.

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Robert McLaws

When it comes to Vista, the sky is always falling, isn't it?

Sounds like the guy is just trying to sell more of his product to me. DNS was in need of an upgrade long before Vista came along. It is an outdated technology that is far too susceptible to attack in the first place.

IPv6 is not going to be an optional feature at some point in the near future, and its benefits far outweigh any supposed downside. It's not Microsoft's problem to deal with DNS availability...That's up to the individual service providers.

Anyways, IPv6 is very easy to shut off in Windows Vista. But shutting off "all optional features" is impractical at best. Who decides what is optional and what isn't? Media Player may seem optional to adults, but is mandatory for most teens. Who decides who is savvy and who isn't? My mom is computer-savvy but doesn't care about the difference between IPv4 and IPv6.

No, it's best that Microsoft leave things the way they are, and not decide for people what is "optional."
Robert McLaws is an IT consultant, community leader and Vista enthusiast. He has been running Vista enthusiast site Longhornblogs.com since 2002.

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Joe Rud

I think the make-or-break statement of the article is "if Vista was all of a sudden deployed everywhere..." The fact of the matter is that Vista won't be deployed that way. The last company I worked at we didn't install XP until 2004, and that deployment was anything but "all of a sudden." Companies--especially large companies, the ones that this will affect--will necessarily implement a large testing protocol to make sure all of their applications, etc., will work in their environment.

Also, as I read in several other articles, there are other operating systems that already support IPv6 (Unix, Mac) and they don't appear to be affecting things noticeably.
Joe Rud is a computer industry professional from St. Louis Park, Minn.

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Perry Reed

The notion that Microsoft's new DNS lookup will "double" is not entirely true. In many cases, only one lookup will be needed. Furthermore, most DNS servers have ample capacity to absorb the additional traffic.

Microsoft's support of the IPv6 network-addressing standard--the reason behind the additional lookups--is a great step forward in alleviating the limits of the current IPv4 system, which is at risk for running out of available IP addresses for users. Disabling the feature by default will greatly reduce the positive impact of supporting the new standard since generally, new features not turned "on" by default are not used by most people. Non-savvy users probably wouldn't know the difference whether or not this feature was "off" by default--but their network administrators sure will.
Perry Reed works by day in software QA for a large home shopping television network, and in his spare time, he hosts The Tablet PC Show podcast.

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Bill Johnson

If I were Microsoft, I would set all optional features "off" by default and should the user want to turn the optional features "on," he can do so by using the Control Panel. The choice is ultimately up to Microsoft--whichever route they choose will pose an impact in some way.

Overall, I think by turning "off" optional settings by default can only improve the overall quality of the operating system. Giving a user a choice of what options he or she wants to use is great.
Bill Johnson is a Minnesota-based computer technician and journalist who also runs a Microsoft Windows-related community called AplusDownloads.

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Josh Phillips

IPv6 is the future of the Internet and needs to be "on" to have a chance to succeed. This small amount of additional traffic on the DNS servers is a small price to pay and will not "stall Net traffic." Services like Google Video and Youtube are far more likely to impact the Internet than this ever will.

Josh Phillips is an IT professional based in California.

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Brian Scates

Should Vista include IPv6 support, but not enable it, the driving force in desktop computing in the world would be hampering the worldwide adoption of a needed Internet infrastructure upgrade. It's unfortunate that it seems no matter what Microsoft does, on any issue, they are criticized endlessly.

Vista's default settings should be progressive, with a focus on system security. Turning off everything they can by default does nothing to move the computing world into the next century, and we need Microsoft to take us there. As much as the OS X and Linux fans may hate the idea, Microsoft is the biggest force in mainstream adoption of new computing functionality.

So I think they're right in adopting IPv6 as a default feature. While it may be true that immediately switching a billion PCs to IPv6 would strain the world's DNS servers, the world wont be adopting Vista immediately. It will be a gradual growth, which backbone operators should be able to absorb over time.
Brian Scates is the president of Web hosting company Foing.com.

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Matt Selnekovic

This is a combination of fear mongering and ignorance. Will this guy say the same about Linux or OS X when they add IPv6 support? Moreover, if Vista doesn't have an IPv6 address, it won't make that DNS request. Pretty simple, no?
Matt Selnekovic works for an independent software vendor as a software developer, mostly for mobile applications.

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Mack D. Male

The notion that a double lookup by Vista will stall the Internet is absurd, for many reasons. Even more absurd is that people are worrying about something other than the release date for Vista!
Mack. D. Male is the co-founder of Paramagnus Developments, a software company building tools and services for podcasting. An avid beta tester, he has experience developing applications for Windows.

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Brian Clarke

I think that the DNS inventor's credibility is damaged by the fact that he now works for a company that would benefit from selling more DNS hardware/software.

Windows is THE most used OS in the world, bar none. If Vista doesn't come with IPv6 turned on by default, that will be a major roadblock to widespread IPv6 adoption.

And Sidebar should be off by default, because it seems bloated. If Microsoft makes it load faster, they can leave it on by default.
Brian Clarke, a student at Shippensburg University, says he has reinstalled Windows more times than he cares to remember.

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Stewart Retsis

If it indeed improves performance, Microsoft would be insane for leaving it out.
Stewart Retsis is a normal PC user who lives in Thurso, Scotland.

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John Kneeland

It's bad enough when Windows makes Windows users miserable. The last thing we need is Windows ruining the entire Internet for everybody. Of course they should change it.

John Kneeland is an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is majoring in international relations and East Asian studies.