> I was working on TCP/IP, Novell and AppleTalk nets in the mid 90s and > as network engineers we hated to maintain a database of static IP > addresses for users, and we loved how AT for example was totally > automatic (IPX was in the middle because we also hated the long addresses). > > But any how, I agree with Brian that it was a good idea at that time. I > was very young and naive (I am still naive) then but I remember that I > thought that it was a plus compared to v4, but probably I would the same > applauded an automatic centric IP address management (i.e. dhcp). > > In fact, as an operator I wanted a mechanism to handle IP address > easily, not to use the mac address and avoid ARP. I guess this backs > Randy's point too. i do not disagree with you, but ... actually, i was taking no position on slaac vs dhcp. my point was that customers did take a position for historic reasons, dhcp in enterprise and fixed on the wan, and having a religious argument with the customer is not a smart business or design plan. if we cared about success and the customer, we might have followed the principle of least astonishment (pola) and given them dhcp and also have pointed to the availability of the new wonderful washes your car alternative which they might like to try. randy