[armchairhacker]

Physical goods like Coca Cola require raw material. Software costs effort to make, but then practically nothing to copy, hence making it “free” is more feasible. We just have to figure out how to pay the creators before it’s released, and ensure they have a decent path to continued funding after (e.g. other projects to create).

[german_dong]

You know, when the internet made distribution frictionless, all "knowledge work," most notably music, became feasibly free. The advent of AI now threatens to make not just the distribution but also the creation of such work feasibly free. For me, RMS will always be a duplicitous shyster, not to mention a lousy programmer. I'll concede he made the world a better place, much as Robin of Locksley did, but for all the wrong reasons.