[Bug 24828] Re: IPv6 should be disabled by default

[Martin Tasker]

Please raise this to critical and schedule into Feisty.

It's critical because it's part of the post-installation user experience
and damages Ubuntu's credibility exactly in the eyes of those whom its
trying to reach.  This bug's been open for 14 months now, and is trivial
to fix, so obviously any status below critical isn't going to get
attention.

My own experience, I have now found, is typical of many.  I'm a hardened
Windows user but dislike the prospect of going to Vista.  So on a new PC
I install Ubuntu.  I find Firefox is at best slow, at worst times out on
my favourite web pages.  It took me _eight hours_ of my own time and
involved five members of the Ubuntu community, to get a solution.  Of
course I did _not_ immediately do a search on IPv6, it simply didn't
cross my mind that that could be anything to do with the problem.
Instead I just felt stupid, and submitted a stupid newbie report saying
my system was slow ... then I sat back waiting for people to ask me
whether I'd switched on my monitor etc etc.  It shouldn't have to be
that way.

I guess the reason why not _everyone_ is afflicted by this problem is
that their router kindly suppresses IPv6 before it gets out of their
home.

As it happens I work for a company that has IPv6 networking as one of
its product features, so I know what IPv6 is.  I also know that it's
useless for any practical purpose - due to lack of deployment, to lack
of consistent implementation, and to feasible alternatives.  Yesterday I
consulted a senior system architect to confirm that view - it's valid,
and nothing is really changing.

I haven't seen a single positive reference to IPv6 in user discussions
of Linux (check out the hits in Linux Format forums, for instance).

There are those who think IPv6 will happen some day, and would like a
coordinated plan to implement it across the board in Ubuntu (see
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IPv6Integration, for example).  I have no
problem with this.  But it makes sense to disable IPv6 by default, so
that conscious experimenters can turn it on if they wish, until such a
plan has been worked out in Ubuntu (and rest of world) to enable IPv6 in
a way that doesn't create disappointment for any stakeholder.

-- 
IPv6 should be disabled by default
https://launchpad.net/bugs/24828