Comment by queenkjuul

BASIC was included with every 80s micro, and using QBASIC on an XT wouldn't be that different than on a 486. 286s and 386s were in widespread use in offices well into the 90s.

$20/mo for 5 years is over $1000, and you still need hardware on top of that. Vs buying a secondhand computer and using books from the library, it's not cheap.