So was it really worth it to make it so damn complicated and put it out of range for most developers and existing programs in terms of implementation effort, si

So was it really worth it to make it so damn complicated and put it out of range for most developers and existing programs in terms of implementation effort, sidestepping IP networking even, for actual hypertext transport when the web is contracting as we speak? Ignoring incidental use of HTTP for "REST APIs" (an oxymoron in itself).