What are the common uses of ftp and http today?

FTP is File Transfer Protocol. This is used for, say, if you have Norton (I use this reference a-lot for those of you who read my posts) and you want to upgrade, some people make a mistake and install over the old version. NEVER A GOOD IDEA! This can, and USUALLY WILL cause a software conflict. In this case, your software could be rendered useless. So, you would contact customer support. The easiest way is to "Chat With Technical Support". If they feel they can help you, they may ask you permission to access your computer. With the ability to access your computer, they can control your mouse, run programs, remove, and install. FTP allows you to open a specified port (usually mandated by the manufacturer) to allow access to your PC to fix this. Another use for FTP is for Online Gaming that use account's. With FTP, you are able to kick people with vulgar language, being racist, or breaking any other rule in the T&C's.

HTTP is "Hypertext Transfer Protocol" which is the directory that servers use to send information to your computer that you request.

If you are running Windows XP, you can click "Start", and open "My Documents". This view is called Windows Explorer, not to be confused with Internet Explorer. If you look at the top of the Explorer windows, just like in a web browser, you will notice something like "C://admin/my documents/music/goo goo dolls/song1.aiff" This is called a directory, it points to the location of a file.

If you are running Windows Server 2008 (or any other earlier version for that matter), the directories will begin with http:// instead of C://. C:// is the C drive (usually your main HDD) where as the http:// points to a directory within the servers of the web.
http is NOT to be confused with .htm, .html., xml, or .xhml which are file EXTENSIONS, and not DIRECTORIES.