Like it or lump it, we’re moving to IPv6 for our Internet connections. For now, less than 2% of the world’s Internet population is using IPv6, but as the last IPv4 addresses grains of sands run out (http://www.zdnet.com/ipv6-when-do-you-really-need-to-switch-3040155336/), Microsoft knows that its Windows users need to start switching over. That’s why, starting in Windows 8, “Windows prefers native IPv6 connectivity over IPv4 connectivity, if both connection modes are available.”
In a blog posting, Steve Sinofsky, Microsoft’s president of Windows, explained the basics of why we have no choice but to move from IPv4 to IPv6: IPv4 only provided around 4 billion IP addresses. That seemed like a lot in the 1970s. But by 2015, an estimated 15 billion devices will be connected (PCs, phones, household appliances, cars, even furniture!). IPv4 simply does not have the addresses necessary to connect this many devices to the Internet.”
He’s right of course.