Different ports for different services? Different directories for different files? Wouldn't it be easier to look for a file in one directory? Yes, putting all in one directory/shoving all services through one port, would be easier - much less to keep track of. However, I like to know that my conf files are in/etc, system binaries in/usr/sbin, and so forth. And I like to know what services are accessing what port. Port 21? Oh, someone's hitting ftp. Port 80? Http. Port 23? Telnet. Yes, services can be run on any port. And one can look at the traffic to verify that's really what's passing through. But starting a trend of using one port for more than one purpose is non-sense - perhaps just making it easier for less knowlegable people to 'administer' a network. Maybe easier, but not better, and certainly not more secure.
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Different ports for different services? Different directories for different files? Wouldn't it be easier to look for a file in one directory? Yes, putting all in one directory/shoving all services through one port, would be easier - much less to keep track of. However, I like to know that my conf files are in /etc, system binaries in /usr/sbin, and so forth. And I like to know what services are accessing what port. Port 21? Oh, someone's hitting ftp. Port 80? Http. Port 23? Telnet. Yes, services can be run on any port. And one can look at the traffic to verify that's really what's passing through. But starting a trend of using one port for more than one purpose is non-sense - perhaps just making it easier for less knowlegable people to 'administer' a network. Maybe easier, but not better, and certainly not more secure.