Do device numbers matter?

Today's number space is highly partitioned
Majors for each device type
...and often for each vendor
/dev is full of useless stuff

That could all change
Dynamic numbering compresses number space
"CIDR" allocation also compresses things
Hotplug subsystem creates nodes as needed
Classes let user space discover devices

Static numbers may vanish
...replaced with a fully dynamic solution
...but not before 2.7