HALF MOON BAY, Calif. — Bill Morrison had the best of intentions. The chief Internet analyst for ThinkPanmure was set to introduce Web legend Marc Andreessen before a group of tech savvy venture capitalists at the ThinkTomorrow —Today Summit this week at the posh Ritz Carlton here.

Morrisson said he was struggling to come up with something he hoped the audience hadn’t heard about Andreessen, who of course helped launch the first Internet browser, Mosaic, and co-founded Netscape, Opsware and Ning.

“I’ll never forget the first time I saw Mosaic because I had been using online services like CompuServe and AOL,” Morrison recalled. “I remember it like the time Reagan was shot and  9/11, I’ll never forget it.”

By then Andreessen had his head buried in his hands and was mumbling “thanks a lot” while the audience laughed.

Advice to moderators — keep the analogies positive!