Explaining mountpoints?

I remember in the late 1980s, when e-mail was just beginning
to become common, explaining it to other people. It was a concept
which was very difficult to explain for some odd reason. The
best I could do was use the answering-machine analogy. I'd say,
"It's just like answering machines. You leave a message for
someone and they can pick it up whenever they want." Comparing
to "paperless" fax machines would just lose people entirely.

The idea that a person could retrieve e-mail from anywhere 
at anytime was simply beyond comprehension at that time.

Part of the problem was that people didn't think it was a useful
concept. Why in the world would a person _write_ an e-mail? Seemed
like a lot of trouble to go to: find a networked computer, log
in, type the e-mail, send it... each one of these steps was
intimidating to the non-user...

In hindsight, I think another problem was using the word 'mail' which 
everyone perceived of in very concrete terms. Mail was something the 
U.S. post office handled in very specific, tangible, well-known ways. 
'Mail'mmeant something handled by another human intermediaray, a
mailman at a specific time of day. And sending a mail meant you 
had to wait several days or hours before someone got it.

Perhaps others of you encountered this odd problem. I clearly
remember how the idea of instantly transferred "mail", in all of 
its simplicity, was difficult to explain.

However, the media slowly started mentioning it, along with
viruses and other such things. And then one day, it was no 
longer difficult to explain 'e-mail' to people. It had built up
critical mass, and somehow people were able to understand
it without explanation. I think the idea of 'voice-mail' helped,
as it was also becoming a popular way to say 'answering machine
message.'

>You'd think that would do the trick wouldn't  you?  It's the method
>I currently use and after 8-12 hours of me repeating  it it
>sometimes sinks in.
>
>Aaron
>
>>What, they  understand C: E: and Z: right?  So, expand taht to
>>machine:ANYWHERE  and you've got it.
>
>>Right??