I agree it's not a perfect metaphor. I do think Xanadu is an extreme case of The Right Thing style of thinking, even if Xanadu would never have actually been Ri

I agree it's not a perfect metaphor. I do think Xanadu is an extreme case of The Right Thing style of thinking, even if Xanadu would never have actually been Right: the creator still thought of it that way, and IMO that is one of the causes for the failure of the project to materialize.