I fail to see how HTTP and REST's "everything is a resource" paradigm is significantly different than UNIX's "everything is a file" paradigm, and I'm yet to see anyone claim that the freedom and power to open any HTML document (OMG a file!) made available through the internet is a mistake or a bad design decision.
Several ways. In Unix files are streams of bytes. In HTTP resources are complex entities with MIME types, multiple representations, encodings, etc. HTTP URL structure supports parameters and there is a method for providing data and obtaining a result back, a sort of RPC.
On the other side Unix has users and permissions, HTTP does not and you have to build your own.
I fail to see how HTTP and REST's "everything is a resource" paradigm is significantly different than UNIX's "everything is a file" paradigm, and I'm yet to see anyone claim that the freedom and power to open any HTML document (OMG a file!) made available through the internet is a mistake or a bad design decision.