[plttn]

I think it's one of those situations where he has the ability to wax poetic from his ivory tower simply because he doesn't have to exist in the real world in terms of technology.

If he had to exist in the real world, he would find it a lot harder to stick to those principles.

[pessimizer]

I'm not sure that this makes a great case for him ceasing his endless fight to change "the real world in terms of technology" to reflect a vision that would allow everyone the choice to live as he does. It's quite literally the only thing he's known for, and all he'll be remembered for by most people.

[decoyworker]

I think it's also that his entire livelihood depends on him continuing to do so.

[plttn]

It's the problem with leaning into a niche viewpoint. You have to continue to lean harder and harder into that viewpoint as the times change in order to keep the people who also believe in that viewpoint supporting you.

I genuinely think the FSF/RMS level hate of non-free software will continue to die out as everyone starts to die/retire from public eye. Whether or not that's a good thing overall is not something I'm going to touch, but it seems like there's not enough being this aggressive to keep this viewpoint sustainable.

[craigsmansion]

It doesn't.

RMS could very likely retire today, find himself a nice seaside property, get himself a parrot, and sit outside in the sun in his pants and hack on emacs to his heart's content.

The only genuinely weird thing about RMS is that he doesn't do exactly that.

[greyhair]

He continues to do so because he has to because of who he is. It is his calling. Zealots (and zealotry is not always wrong) have to do what they do. The same is true of artists. They don't continue to create late into life because they need to monetarily, they do because that is what they do.