WebProNews

If this change didn't take place, the average computer user would eventually notice; if nothing else, as we run out of Internet addresses, it seems like new corporations would wind up with some pretty odd websites.  The conversion to IP version 6 is starting, though, and it should prevent those problems.

IPv6 is, as explained by Carrie-Ann Skinner, "a new format which forms part of a major overhaul of the net's core address system."  Its implementation will create "an effectively inexhaustible pool of addresses," as opposed to the 4,294,967,296 addresses allowed by IPv4 (the current address protocol).

Under IPv4, experts predicted that we'd run out of available domain names by 2011; as a result, the switch to IPv6 is seen as fairly pressing.  Skinner reports, "The new addresses will be introduced to the root servers for the net today."

Meanwhile, the average user has to do absolutely nothing.  Equipment upgrades may eventually become necessary, but every computer owner should pretty much resign himself (or herself) to those, anyway.  As things stand now, we can all just sit back and appreciate companies not adopting nonsense names or mismatching websites.