What a bunch of MS BS! They're just trying to shape future programmers in to the Windows enviorment. If you want to teach real programming lets start with the basics. BASIC is an excellent language to start with. It teaches real programming, not just manipulating GUIs.
BASIC isn't a great teaching language. It doesn't go well with structured programming concepts because it encourages shortcuts and spaghetti code (with GOTOs and etc.)...
It helps people get a feel for how you can do simple things on a computer, but for teaching aspiring programmers, I prefer REXX.