[6bone] IPv6 connection + website.

[Stewart Tansley]

> I think this is a good suggestion, as IPv6 on Windows is 
> something of a hack. 

!! -- perhaps you are confusing the preview editions of the IPv6 stack
on Windows, such as the well-known Windows 2000 technology preview,
which were issued as Microsoft gradually refined its implementation
prior to releasing a fully-supported stack. These preview editions were
unsupported.

Microsoft today offers fully-supported IPv6 stacks in all of:

- Windows XP with Service Pack 1 (Professional and Home Editions)
- Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 1
- Windows CE .NET

Windows .NET Server 2003 family in beta is also available, as a free
download.
 
> Unless your intention is to learn the 
> idiosyncracies of IPv6 on Windows, using an operating system 
> that does IPv6 very well is a very good idea. It all depends 
> on what you want to learn - the process (of setting up IPv6) 
> or the practise (of running IPv6). Windows involves much more 
> process, and NetBSD much more practise.

I don't understand where this view is coming from. We welcome feedback
on our supported IPv6 implementations at ipv6-fb@microsoft.com. Setting
up IPv6 on a supported stack Windows OS is as simple as executing one
command or a couple of clicks in a dialog box.
 
> Is your goal to learn how to deploy IPv6, or how to use IPv6 
> in a Windows environment? If it's the latter, then this list 
> isn't for you; our goal is IPv6 deployment for the world and 
> the lan alike, and, like the current IPv4 Internet, for 
> everyone regardless of OS.

Microsoft enjoys this list too. We hadn't noticed any OS bias.

> To put it simply, one does not deploy for a specific OS when 
> one deploys for the Internet (well, people do, but it's not 
> correct). The same is true of IPv6.

There are all sorts of reasons why people deploy all sorts of platforms.
Which platforms are used should be determined by analyzing requirements
and matching capabilities.

Stewart Tansley
Program Manager
http://www.microsoft.com/ipv6/