Question for Unix experts: why do we need open()?

I've spent some time in the past staring at the abyss that is http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/open.html, and much of its complexity seems needed only for Things That Are Not Files.

At the syscall level it's pretty ugly that sockets are not files. Alternative client-side syscalls that unify file system and network:

• PUT
• GET
• POST
• DELETE

Just have them take a resource name and maybe a Go channel for synchronizing. What am I missing?!

This post is part of my Freewheeling Apps Devlog.

Comments gratefully appreciated. Please send them to me by any method of your choice and I'll include them here.