[carapace]

Well, yeah. RMS equaled the output of a team of ~12 other programmers. But those kind of folks don't need status, they are their own status. E.g. I doubt Fabrice Bellard does what he does from any concern for status. It's just what he do.

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No single entity can afford to pay elite programmers like RMS and Bellard anything like what their work is actually worth. No one even tries. The rational thing to do (IMO) is give your work away freely and then ride the general prosperity that results.

For (another) example, who could pay Chet Ramsey anything comparable to what his work is actually worth? No one. Most of us reading this here use the software he maintains, every day, without thinking about him (or in many cases even knowing his name.) Rather than e.g. charging a micro-cent for each tab completion or something (which we could set up if we wanted to) he donates his work and, as compensation, gets to partake in the global "rising tide" that "lifts all boats". It's indirect but efficient. He can't be said to be working for status if hardly anyone knows his name, though, eh?