Fully agree with what you said. There are still just as many passionate people fascinated by computers in the youngest generation as there are in older generations. It's just that the sheer number of programmers has made them less visible in recent years.

Also, one thing the article misses is that programming 8 hours a day and then continuing to program in your spare time is not healthy for many people. People are different, and there are some who can do it without negative consequences, but for others it can lead to burnout, especially if they also have a family to take care of or other issues to deal with. I used to do a lot of programming in my spare time when I was in college. Now that I have a 40-hour-a-week job, I've learned that I need to be careful how much energy I spend, and I don't do as much open source work because I need a lot of my free time to rest and recharge.