It's a beautiful and deep analogy, and works for both software engineer and their mom.
Mom-level: ChatGPT ("or that other ChatGPT with a human name, Klaus I think? No, it was Claude.") can use software that says it supports MCP. If it says "MCP", I can use it with my AI.
Software dev level: MCP servers and MCP clients should just work, like USB. I don't really have to care about this, I expect them to connect just fine. Like with USB, there's a crap ton of complexity dumped on implementers of the spec to make it work reliably and cheaply - as it should be. That's literally their job: to take all the "secret sauce" that makes their product "special" and hide it behind a standard, because they're not special and nobody cares.
As another software engineer: if it ain't USB, I ain't buying, because I'm too old to deal with the proprietary per-device unique connectors bullshit. The standard exists so I don't have to think about it.
Mom-level: ChatGPT ("or that other ChatGPT with a human name, Klaus I think? No, it was Claude.") can use software that says it supports MCP. If it says "MCP", I can use it with my AI.
Software dev level: MCP servers and MCP clients should just work, like USB. I don't really have to care about this, I expect them to connect just fine. Like with USB, there's a crap ton of complexity dumped on implementers of the spec to make it work reliably and cheaply - as it should be. That's literally their job: to take all the "secret sauce" that makes their product "special" and hide it behind a standard, because they're not special and nobody cares.
As another software engineer: if it ain't USB, I ain't buying, because I'm too old to deal with the proprietary per-device unique connectors bullshit. The standard exists so I don't have to think about it.