“HTTP.” Everyone’s familiar with those letters, but their function is relatively overlooked. Basically, it’s the protocol through which a browser communicates to a server hosting a website, so that everything—HTML files, Flash, etc.—appears when you visit a URL.
The protocol was invented at the time of the Internet so an update is undoubtedly overdue. Google was first to introduce their plans for the faster SPDY (“speedy”) protocol three years ago as part of the ongoing HTTP 2.0 initiative, but now Microsoft has put forth its intentions to build atop SPDY with its HTTP Speed+Mobility protocol.
Microsoft contends that HTTP Speed+Mobility is better suited than SPDY to improving app speeds and even battery life for laptops and smartphones by decreasing the power consumption of network access that requires multiple TCP connections. One can assume Microsoft has one eye on the future of their Windows Phone platform here.
Ultimately, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) will call the shots on a new protocol and guide the process through to a new world wide web.
[via PCMag]
