[ih] FTP RIP

[Dave Crocker]

On 9/27/2020 6:29 PM, Joseph Touch via Internet-history wrote:
> It’s been unfortunate how many of FTP’s features had to be (or still 
> remain to be) reinvented in HTTP.

Aspects of that question, and that regret, seem to recur across this 
body of work.

As I recall, SMTP was largely driven by a desire to have only one data 
transfer, when there were multiple recipients at the same destination.  
A thoroughly reasonable desire, IMO.  And yet now, SMTP tends to do 
single addressee transfers, due to various handling, content and abuse 
issues.

BTW, in discussions of the Web, I usually point out that while 
Engelbart's work set a stage for the broad framework, Anonymous FTP was 
actually the first distributed, production service on the net, for 
getting access to public documents from everywhere.  And it held that 
position for roughly 20+ years.

For the purpose, it was a horrible UX, of course, but still, it served 
that purpose.

d/

-- 
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net