I would never have got into micros without the soft start route of the Arduino.
I am now updating years of CMOS logic technology with 328 chips programmed with Arduino, including text LED displays, a 2 axis doming machine, a HD LCD screen text overlay, and some electronic scoreboards, all real life applications, and I didn't have a clue 6 months ago.
So it is not the available examples and existing ideas that limit its use, its ones imagination !