> From: Keith Moore <moore@cs.utk.edu>
> actually it's bad to force all apps to use DNS names - which are often
> less reliable, slower, less correct, and more ambiguous than IP
> addresses.
This is like saying it's bad to force people to use cars/busses/whatever
because they occasionally break, and everyone should walk everytime they need
to go anywhere, because that's more reliable. That works in an agrarian
society, but not an industrialized one.
We have multiple namespaces, each with different characteristics for the
names, for very good reasons. If we really need a name with characteristic A,
and we instead wind up using one with characteristic ~A "because it's more
reliable", then that's not good.
If we have a need for a name, and the optimal characteristics for that name
are those of an address (i.e. the topological location of an interface to the
network), then fine, use an address. If not, don't.
If the system for mapping from one namespace to another has problems, we
ought to fix it, not say "oh, we'll just stop using it".
Don't try and make everything into a nail because the hammer is the most
reliable tool you have.
Noel
