To be fair, Linus, you and everyone who develops the board bitch about that same thing. Some people even parrot it without understanding the underlying issues at even a basic level. So let's see their models that compete with the rpi at the same price point. Until I see those, I am left to see a whole lot petty whining. The rpi is very much in front of the pack when it comes to their clearly stated mandate.
Remember the purpose, and not lean too heavily onto your personal ideology.
I haven't used it personally but I was told that the RockPi (https://rockpi.org/) is similar to the rpi but runs on totally free drivers. Having a backdoor with full system access is just not acceptable in 2019.
Remember the purpose, and not lean too heavily onto your personal ideology.