That's not what "barrier to entry" means. Entry is not making 2019 Linux. Entry is making something.
I can write a tiny blog engine in a day on my existing computer. I can't walk into Global Foundries and ask them to make me a single wafer of my tiny microcontroller on their 14nm process.
Hobby software is on the same playing field as pro software, and can smoothly become pro software like Linux did. Hobby silicon is on the 1970s playing field - Jeri Ellsworth and Sam Zeloof making a few transistors with size measured in micrometers. There is literally no way to make your own "hello world" in modern performance silicon.
I can write a tiny blog engine in a day on my existing computer. I can't walk into Global Foundries and ask them to make me a single wafer of my tiny microcontroller on their 14nm process.
Hobby software is on the same playing field as pro software, and can smoothly become pro software like Linux did. Hobby silicon is on the 1970s playing field - Jeri Ellsworth and Sam Zeloof making a few transistors with size measured in micrometers. There is literally no way to make your own "hello world" in modern performance silicon.