] Now, this would leave you wondering, why on earth does
] anyone use this restrictive technology? The usual,
] superficial -- and incorrect -- answer is that it
] alleviates a shortage of public IP addresses caused by
] the original 32-bit address space conceived in an era
] before the Internet exploded in popularity. This has been
] repeatedly shown as bunkum.

The IETF anti-nat crowd has always struck me as odd. If you had IP6 you'd have real IPs in your internal network, which would mean that you won't have to think in order to manage IP allocation in a VPN. Thats nice. No one is going to replace the internet for it though. You're still going to have a firewall. People don't WANT end to end connectivity. Not even at home. It means you've got to lock down the security of every computer you own.

Why NAT Isn't As Bad As You Thought