On the contrary, NAT has allowed us to maintain global connectivity without
requiring every system to have a globally unique address. NAT is what has
prevented us from returning to the pre-1978 situation.
this is true only if you believe that
- all applications should be client-server,
- hosts can reasonably be partitioned into client-only hosts and server
hosts, and
- the network can reasonably be organized so that all server hosts are
located outside NATs.
i.e., it's true only if you believe that the Internet should be crippled.
it's rather odd to argue that a technology that partitions the network
into separate realms, such that the hosts in those realms can't talk to
each other except by coincidence, is allowing us to maintain global
connectivity.
Keith