3 ms·

It helps little to say it wasn't designed to be exposed, because it will. We have DNS now, and still many times we deal with raw ipv4s, end users too. It's not

• praxulus 11y ago
  Developers deal with raw ipv4s, but end users? Unless you're setting up a wireless router, when does that actually happen?
  • jfoster 11y ago
    Not all, but many end users frequently need to input IP addresses when any type of connection is being made on a private network that isn't using DNS.
    • baby 11y ago
      And that's when having a : every X letters will help you catch where you are when you'll be typing that long string.
      • jfoster 11y ago
        Exactly. There wouldn't be any need for the colons if the addresses weren't intended to be looked at or typed by humans.
• pilif 11y ago
  Most of the reasons why you have to type v4 addresses are irrelevant in a v6 network. In a small to medium network you just plug in the router and you're done. No picking a suitable private network, no configuring a DHCP server, no typing in manual router addresses. SLAAC is very nice like that. If you need to connect from machine to machine in the lan, use mdns and host names. This already works out of the box even in v4.