Not a question of if but when.. (Score 1)

I don't really expect the cost or adoption of this thing to be a big issue since we are not talking about a private entity providing the funding. There have been numerous indications that the government wants a new internet for a myriad of reasons (ranging from security to special interest) and it looks like they are getting close (5 years or so)to making it a reality. I'd expect that you will start seeing bills appear in the next year or so that will lay ground for making transition mandatory by a certain cutoff date. This legislation path will provide funding for Government, Education, and a few of the bigger corporations to make the transition a little easier. Then it will start appearing in international circles and since it will provide more control why would any nation stop it? The comparison of the internet to the American wild west comes to mind and we all know what happened there.

Some might argue that it would be better to just evolve what is already there. However, from a government standpoint they have encountered strong resistance to legislating the current internet for years so creating a new network with their desired features from the get go would be much easier than continuing the current stalemate on internet policy.

My real question is what will happen to usenet, the highlander of the internet.