Analogies
Fraser Speirs has an analogy for RAM vs. hard disk space for new computer users.
“Think of RAM as your physical wooden-or-formica desktop. It has a certain fixed size and, if you want to work on paper documents, you have to have them on your desk.”
It’s a good analogy, but I think it’s a very bad idea. Nobody but a technophile should ever have to care about the difference. I like Jef Raskin’s idea of making all technical concepts, including file systems and operating systems, completely invisible to the user.
“the reason why PARC invented the desktop was to make the idea of an operating system and other technical underpinnings of computers easily understood by representing them graphically. The better idea would have been to eliminate the irrelevant technical details.”