Microsoft's launch of Windows Vista could slow down or stall traffic on the Net, said Paul Mockapetris, who is widely credited with inventing the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS). Mockapetris believes Vista's introduction will cause a surge in DNS traffic because the operating system supports two versions of the Internet Protocol, a technology standard used to send information over computer networks.

DNS inventor "If you adopt Vista, your DNS traffic is going to double," Mockapetris said in an interview. With many DNS servers already running close to capacity, this can have serious consequences, he said. "You're going to see brownouts. All of a sudden, it is going to be mud season on the Internet, where things will just be kind of slow and gooey."

Vista may cause an increase in DNS traffic, but not to the extent predicted by Mockapetris, Microsoft countered in a statement provided to CNET News.com last week. Other experts support Microsoft and suggest Mockapetris' predictions are related to his role at Nominum, the Redwood City, Calif., vendor of DNS products where he is chief scientist.

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