> I think you underestimate the significance of the small barriers, even ones as small as a search-and-install step.
I think you over-estimate that barrier. It hasn't stopped things like TikTok, Instagram, etc... The modern world is installing apps. It's not a meaningful barrier.
What you're describing with organic evolution into programming is a cool property of things like Excel, yes. But you don't get that by just bundling an IDE into a browser, either. You still have that barrier of the user needs to decide they want to program. Which they don't want to do when they're just browsing reddit or whatever, that's not a natural evolution path like the Excel one.
I think you over-estimate that barrier. It hasn't stopped things like TikTok, Instagram, etc... The modern world is installing apps. It's not a meaningful barrier.
What you're describing with organic evolution into programming is a cool property of things like Excel, yes. But you don't get that by just bundling an IDE into a browser, either. You still have that barrier of the user needs to decide they want to program. Which they don't want to do when they're just browsing reddit or whatever, that's not a natural evolution path like the Excel one.