Maybe not "essential" but I'm willing to guess that a huge percentage of the modern web communicates over HTTP or HTTPS.
"Essential" is interesting because you could definitely argue that HTTP isn't essential, but I don't think there is any feasible way of denying that the formalization and acceptance of early internet protocols (UDP, TCP, HTTP, FTP, etc) have played a significant role in shaping our modern technology world.
In a similar way, having reasonable standards makes it easier for everyone that isn't an expert in a particular field to just use something that is likely to work reasonably well while they worry about some other special part of their idea.
Maybe not "essential" but I'm willing to guess that a huge percentage of the modern web communicates over HTTP or HTTPS.
"Essential" is interesting because you could definitely argue that HTTP isn't essential, but I don't think there is any feasible way of denying that the formalization and acceptance of early internet protocols (UDP, TCP, HTTP, FTP, etc) have played a significant role in shaping our modern technology world.
In a similar way, having reasonable standards makes it easier for everyone that isn't an expert in a particular field to just use something that is likely to work reasonably well while they worry about some other special part of their idea.