Disabling telnetd is not the same thing as "disabling telnet".

You are correct that telnetd is almost never enabled on servers. That just means a telnetd server that allows insecure login isn't running on port 23.

You can easily use the telnet client (even on Win XP) to connect to services on other ports, like port 80. Just as was suggested above.

When I admin or support mail systems, I use telnet all the time to connect to port 25 to simulate a SMTP session.

Even in the US, metric is quite commonly used when measuring fizzy drinks or drugs.