Count me along the people who got started programming because there's a button right there telling you it's possible to make the machine do your bidding.
I don't know why everybody else who isn't a programmer gave a shit, but if you had a modicum of curiosity about that button did, the manual came with it and the button was right there.
Bear in mind that Windows 95 was all but ending most people's exposure to DOS, and even if that wasn't the case, it's not like DOS displayed a banner on startup reading "why don't you type qbasic and see what happens?".
It was a lot less immediately obvious that you could program a computer and that there were tools to do so included. And the paper manual didn't exactly cover how to use qbasic.
> Count me along the people who got started programming because there's a button right there telling you it's possible to make the machine do your bidding.
This exactly. Every web browser has JavaScript, but there's no button to press to bring up a tab with a simple, easy to use JavaScript programming environment (e.g. a canvas, console, code editor, demo programs) with a link to beginner-friendly tutorials and documentation.
The button + tab would be easy to make, though tutorials/documentation would be a lot more work.
I don't know why everybody else who isn't a programmer gave a shit, but if you had a modicum of curiosity about that button did, the manual came with it and the button was right there.
Bear in mind that Windows 95 was all but ending most people's exposure to DOS, and even if that wasn't the case, it's not like DOS displayed a banner on startup reading "why don't you type qbasic and see what happens?".
It was a lot less immediately obvious that you could program a computer and that there were tools to do so included. And the paper manual didn't exactly cover how to use qbasic.