As a kid who began writing code on an Apple II I cant believe you feel that today's situation is inferior to our own. I didn't know anyone who HAD a computer let alone could program it and I sure as hell never imagined that I could actually distribute my programs anywhere. Look at what kids have today - an infinite supply of resources, an infinite audience via a multitude of channels, and even the ability to really market and sell their wares (no pun...) seems like a worthwhile trade off for being able to go native to me. And if you really care, fire up a virtual machine and go nuts.
My brothers would just unplug it. Boy did that make me fly off the handle! I would write 50LOC programs in basic (C64), and when I was about to make my GOTO frenzy start, they would unplug it. takes a deep breath
