The goal in my mind is deeper understanding of what it is at the heart. Understanding is the key to innovation. What gives the deepest most profound / accurate understanding may not be the best marketing or the most simplified. Often simplification involves removing details and nuances from an idea.
So an Autonomous Company removes some details but may be easier to understand. Simply saying Company removes more details and is easily understood.
Thus BitShares X is a bank or credit union. Removes all details, but is easily understood.
What makes it different from other banks and credit unions? The database is public, the books are transparent, and it is provably solvent.
Why would I want to use BitShares X as my bank? You can instantly send money anywhere in the world, hold deposits of gold, silver, etc. Your account cannot be frozen nor funds transferred without your consent.
You see explaining these things to the lay man is only challenging because we wish to be more accurate and talk about how it works. Focusing on what it does makes it easy to explain.
So if your goal is to teach deep understanding for smart people then calling it a DAC is provably misleading because company is too abstract.
Properties that make DACs different from the normal conception of a Company:
1) Sovereign - they operate outside the jurisdiction of any government and are fully in control of the shareholders.
2) Cooperative - they only provide services to share holders and employees. Before you can partake of the services of a co-op you must become a member, this is true with DACs as well.
As a consequence of being Sovereign by the shareholders, they can own no assets outside the ledger. Shareholders are not soverign over real-estate and all other property is held by someone else at the whim of governments. Likewise, as a consequence of being sovereign to the shareholders, it can hold no secrets that are not known by all shareholders.
A co-operative is a group of people acting together to meet the common needs and aspirations of its members, sharing ownership and making decisions democratically.
Co-operatives are not about making big profits for shareholders, but creating value for customers – this is what gives co-operatives a unique character, and influences our values and principles.
A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise. (The International Co-operative Alliance Statement on the Co-operative Identity, Manchester 1995)