If the tread wears evenly, why do you care what the rotation pattern is?
Well, I'm figuring one reason the tread wears evenly is because each tire gets to spend an equal amount of time at each corner of the vehicle. And I know that my right side tires wear more rapidly than the left sides -- probably my particular driving style, I suppose. I don't use the spare in my rotation because -- well, I guess I'm too lazy. The spare can sometimes be a bit of a pita to reach, and I've just never bothered with it.
Blackdog, I think you have a point about why some people are unhappy with tires that most others love.
As to MTs, we have run them forever on our fleet of service trucks at work. They work great off road but I'm sure I wouldn't be happy with them on my Tacoma. That's excellent life you're getting from MTs, btw!