atatat@atatdot.net (Andrew Brown) writes:
> for example, you can still ping the network number (ie, host number
> zero for a given network and subnet) and still get responses from lots
> of hosts.

If you know what the network zero address it.  

Quick, whats the network 0 address for this host 24.1.65.208? If
you guessed 24.1.65.0, thats wrong.

In the cases where you wanted to ping the local network, you could
ping 255.255.255.255 just as well.  If you were off-net, most folks
would say that allowing network pings is very irresponsible.  It
allows for all sorts of DOS attacks (like smurfing).

I'd rather see folks be able to trade a mis-feature for an extra
address.  Especially in the day and age when ISP's are charging real
money for every IP address.  Do you really want to pay for two IPs
that your software won't let you use for host addresses?

-wolfgang
-- 
       Wolfgang Rupprecht <wolfgang+gnus@dailyplanet.wsrcc.com>
		    http://www.wsrcc.com/wolfgang/
DGPS signals via the Internet  http://www.wsrcc.com/wolfgang/gps/dgps-ip.html