There is an insightful comment from Tom Limoncelli later in the thread:

“This is yet another reason why it was brilliant for Linux to have a Penguin as their logo. Up until then all Unix imagery was counter-productive to wide adoption: It was mostly wizards (a reminder that Unix is difficult to use and only understood by few) or devils (which is just plain confusing to the 99.99% of the planet that hasn't taken Operating Systems 101 in college).

This is not a new thing. This story is probably older than a lot of people on this mailing list: http://monster-island.org/tinashumor/humor/daemon.html

(and I heard Laura tell the story once in person)

Tom”