A layman's explanation for "Everything is a file" — what differs from Windows?

I know that "Everything is a file" means that even devices have their filename and path in Unix and Unix-like systems, and that this allows for common tools to be used on a variety of resources regardless of their nature. But I can't contrast that to Windows, the only other OS I have worked with. I have read some articles about the concept, but I think they are somewhat uneasy to grasp for non-developers. A layman's explanation is what people need! For example, when I want to copy a file to CF card that is attached to a card reader, I will use something like zcat name_of_file > /dev/sdb In Windows, I think the card reader will appear as a driver, and we will do something similar, I think. So, how does the "Everything is a file" philosophy make a difference here?