...but not for the reasons you state.

One of the best uses for bit fields is setting/getting hardware registers that have an annoying tendency to pack several command and/or status bit fields of varying length into a single 8-, 16-, or 32-bit register. Most of you web services types (not meant perjoritavely) are so far away from the hardware you never have to mess with such stuff (and probably good riddance, from your perspective, no?). However, even on 32-bit embedded processors (note: over 50% of new embedded designs are with 32-bit processors), bit fields most definitely have their place.

They are also useful for packing data into communication streams. But one must remember that bit fields are explicitly non-portable, so using them to communicate between dissimilar architectures, or even similar architectures with differernt compilers, is more than a bit tricky.

...and raise you an Intel 8748: 64 BYTES of on-chip RAM (which also included the two register sets and the stack...oh, wait a minnit-that 64 BYTES was the stack... and 2KB of on-chip EEPROM. Used it to make an IEEE-488 interface controller for light-pipe data acquisition controllers for an EMP measurement system.

And no, it is definitely not before my time... ;-).