Poor Choice of Metaphors

The simple metaphor they came up with to explain the problem of closed social networks? Instant messenger. “If Brad is on Yahoo and I’m on AOL, we still want to talk to each other,” explains Recordon, who’s now at Six Apart, Fitzpatrick’s old company.

(via ValleyWag)

Note to self: when explaining my proposed engeering solution to a problem domain, don’t compare it to a painfully long-standing and unsolved problem, e.g.: “see, this packet scheduler I wrote, the problem it solves is like the cable company monopoly in San Francisco…”