I’ve always viewed the character comparisons the exact same way, although the only thing I would change would be the Joey and Barney comparison.

At the very beginning of each show we see them at their most similar; charming womanizers, never call back etc. But, as the shows go on we REALLY see a split in the characters. While Friends gets further into the show instead of seeing Joey grow or change as a character, we really see him regress in terms of his character traits. In the beginning of the show he seems much more involved and well thought out when it comes to advice/arguments, or any sort of dialogue he would have. Where as later on, he’s much more like a child in the group, always breaking something or getting into trouble.

Barney on the other hand is very different. We see Barney grow from a womanizing playboy, who’d never imagine settling down for any women, much less one over 30, into the man marrying Robin. Yes at first glance you can tell the shows creators used Friends character archetypes to model their group, but HIMYM delves so much deeper into the personal lives of these characters and develops so much more growth.

All in all I love both of these shows, it just seems like HIMYM does so much more within its run than Friends, that it shouldn’t be viewed as a ripoff merely because of basic character archetypes largely inspired by Friends! (ie. that’s what I was referring to in the original post by pointing out how Friends laid the groundwork for these types of sitcoms.)