During a chat with John Montgomery yesterday, he tangentially revealed a stunning number: according to Microsoft, there are more than 7 million "hobbyist programmers" in the US alone. Not professionals, not students, not "macro kings and queens," not sysadmins with a knowledge of Perl, but flat-out hobbyists.
I still don't know if I can believe that, not because the idea of recreational programming is odd, but because such a market is absolutely unserved. Geez, it makes me want to launch a magazine. ("Magazine" being another way of saying "Website that pays the bills").