Redefining Yourself Into a Corner
"So why does it seem that HTTP is used to reinvent every protocol imaginable? Because FTP clients, newsreaders and e-mail clients can't display advertising. Hence FTP functions are merged with HTTP protocol. Eudora's e-mail program now offers advertising as an option rather than buying it, and Usenet is left to the old folks failing memories of a spam free golden era of filters, killfiles, and .newsrc files to remember what you already read."