That makes me wonder if we should use that exact metaphor to explain computers/software. Your computer is a suitcase. Everything you do packs your suitcase. If you want to get a new suitcase, you have to unpack the old one and pack the stuff into the new one.
My (non-technical) users don't understand version control at all. Which is weird as it was them who insisted on installing Sharepoint. But every folder has file_v1, file_v2, _v3, _v4 and so on.
That is why I am against using analogies (water through pipes to understand electricity). All analogies are false. The only question is when it is going to mislead, not if.
Files and folders are an analogy. Files aren't really in a folder, they're just associated through clever indexing. Is there any reason we should stop using that analogy?
Analogies are useful when they allow you to not think about something low-level so you can work on something high-level. If I had to think about electrons every time I sat down to write code, I'd never get anything done. If I had to learn it before I started learning to write code, I'd still be in school.
I am not so sure that this is an analogy. These are different names for new things. Except for 'folder' as opposed to 'directory'.
You sort of lost me there with the electrons thing. Are perhaps you really meaning the abstractions that enable you to not have to think about electrons while writing code.
Not really sure what software would be though.