It’s a perfect analogy because it seems like an improvement because it seems like an improvement and on paper it is. But as I got a bit older I realized that:
- I primarily used one color, meaning that it would run out of ink before the others
- The colors that didn’t get used would be gummed up by the time I did switch to them because it didn’t have a proper cap
- The barrel of the pen was wider to accommodate those extra cartridges inside making it more uncomfortable to use.
- The pen was more expensive than a box of cheap pens, so I only had one; since I’d lose pens all the time this meant that I’d have to use a cheap pen anyway, if I even had any.
Like AI, it’s a novelty that is worse in almost every way while appearing to convey an illusory benefit!