Indeed, this is a correct assessment. Sorry about my poor phrasing. In particular I was thinking things like using the HTTP protocol correctly in a similar mann

Indeed, this is a correct assessment. Sorry about my poor phrasing. In particular I was thinking things like using the HTTP protocol correctly in a similar manner to more "modern" RESTful APIs, removing some of the unnecessary things and allowing for alternatives to XML like json for size and ease of access from web platforms.