HTTP is quite a good protocol. Simple, extensible to a sane extent, but not overly extensible (XMPP i'm thinking about you).
HTTP is not accidentally successful. FTP is a bad joke. (stateful. binary mode, 7 bit by default. uses multiple connections (unless in passive mode))
http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/732/170/796...
HTTP is quite a good protocol. Simple, extensible to a sane extent, but not overly extensible (XMPP i'm thinking about you). HTTP is not accidentally successful. FTP is a bad joke. (stateful. binary mode, 7 bit by default. uses multiple connections (unless in passive mode))