Where has BASIC gone?

I remember with great affection my childhood days playing with BASIC on Timex Sinclar, TRS-80, Apple II, and Commodore 64 computers. It was a great way for me to learn how to program, and to be able to bring along my knowledge from operating system to operating system. Salon.Com is noting that today, BASIC is gone and nothing else has taken its place. At one time, I would have scoffed and said that PASCAL/C/C++ has replaced BASIC. But the fact is that if you want to program today - even on a VERY basic level - you need to install development software, do builds, do linking, etc. before having a working program. Even the simpler options like PHP require you know HTML before you start learning how to program.

Are we shortchanging the next generation of potential programmers?