[robert-wallis]

Unix communicates via text, stdin stdout stderr. That's pretty much a standard.

Windows PowerShell communicates with typed objects. COM components and .NET components are a Windows standard way of communicating between software parts. COM has been around for a long time.

Between computers, TCP/IP is a standard way of communicating. But without good documentation of the protocol adding an HTTP layer on top makes it easier to understand. But without good documentation of the protocol RESTful APIs makes it easier to understand. But without good documentation of the protocol WADL...

However I do agree about HTTP. Because I imagine there are more devs that understand HTTP than higher or lower protocols.