I'm not sure that analogy is appropriate. Writing software requires a specific set of skills revolving around one tool (okay, there are many possible tools here

I'm not sure that analogy is appropriate. Writing software requires a specific set of skills revolving around one tool (okay, there are many possible tools here): computers. You probably use another tool that provides tremendous use in your life: a car. Have you worked on a car before? Do you understand how all of it works? I use this analogy in contrast to yours because I do work on cars, and completely understand why hardly anybody does. It's incredibly time consuming, difficult, AND requires a specific set of skills revolving around certain tools. Most people are time and money constrained, and learning programming might not be worth the investment of either given their life circumstances.