The next Y2K bug, Death to Powerpoint

Last Known Issue Volume I Issue 3

IPV6 – is this the next Y2K bug? So tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1999..again. If you were using a computer back in the late 90′s there is a very high probability you were asked the question “are your computers Y2K compliant”. There’s an equally high likelihood you upgraded around that time anyway and never had to experience any problems. Well 2000 has been and gone along with planes falling from the sky, global economies being shutdown and problems with your clock radio. We all thought there was stability in the universe.. that was until I started noticing some propaganda blogs and articles about the internet protocol IPV4 and our subsequent doomed existence.

You see, when the internet was dreamed up some people in white lab coats came up with a concept to ensure every computer was issued a unique number called an IP address. The trouble is, nobody ever imagined that there would ever be more than a small subset of the population owning a computer or device requiring an IP address. Back then, the internet was a novel idea but nobody could ever have imagined a world of internet connected mobile phones, laptops, refridgerators, air conditioners and GPS’s in the hands of millions of people. Under the IPV4 protocol there are only a mere 4,294,967,296 IP addresses to be precise and not all of those addresses are able to be used so the number comes down to a tidy 3000 million or thereabouts. So here’s the thing – according to a number of experts we’re going to run out of IP addresses in less than 12 months… perhaps even as soon as March 2011.

Enter IPV6 Since the 80′s those (same?) men in white lab coats realised this was going to be a problem and invented a new protocol called IPV6 which basically has a relatively infinite number of addresses (billions x billions) so the world would be safe once again. The question is will IPV6 be implemented in time before the world runs out of numbers? The propaganda answer is no according to this SMH article http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/less-than-a-year-until-internet-addresses-run-dry-20100726-10r83.html which declares we have less than a year before doomsday. However, i’d be inclined to disagree if we consider some of the facts. Like Y2K many businesses already had upgraded their systems to be compliant. Most networking devices, mobile phones and yes even internet connected refrigerators already support the IPV6 protocol. The challenge lies more with our internet service providers who buy and sell the IPV4 addresses and will need to make the shift to IPV6 in order to continue supplying services. Perhaps the smaller provides won’t adopt the IPV6 due to the cost but then how will they survive amongst their competitors?

All new servers, operating systems, routers and other internet connected devices designed in recent years are likely to already support IPV6 but a good % of those devices won’t be configured to the IPV6 standard. That’s where your IT service provider will need to take steps to change over to the new protocol when it’s required to do so. Our managed services clients are regularly audited and notifications from ISPs or vendors will be acted upon as part of normal business process.

So I guess in a way, IPV4 to IPV6 is the next Y2K bug.. a change in the way our world connects that will go largely unnoticed by the general community and without a complete economic meltdown – we’ll leave those catastrophes to the finance world..

Death to Powerpoint We’ve all been on the receiving end of the worlds worst Powerpoint presentation. Let me walk you through it just in case you haven’t had the pleasure. There are typically a minimum of 40 text heavy slides, the text on the slides are identical to the words being spoken by the presenter so you’re left wondering why the presenter didn’t just send you a copy by email so you could get on with your day, it goes for about an hour – sometimes more and the content is a little dry to say the least. Seriously, I attended a presentation that I’ll title Death by Powerpoint last Friday and there was a guy asleep in the back row!!!

Say goodbye to traditional slides And hello to Prezi (www.prezi.com) these guys have revolutionised presentations. They’ve taken the concept of mind mapping rather than slides to help you prepare a content rich, interactive presentation in minutes. There’s a free version where your presentations are published online for the world to see or a pro version that allows you to save and hide your presentations. The awesome thing? No software to install – all your presentations are available online and locally if you need them to be.. the not so awesome? It’s based on flash so it won’t work on the iPad.. looks like i’ll be using Keynote or Powerpoint for a little longer but if you’re on a regular laptop I highly recommend you take a look. My favourite prezi is this one: http://prezi.com/rj_b-gw3u8xl/playing-to-learn/

That’s all for this week.