[dragonwriter]

> How does the free software movement live in a capitalistic society?

Quite well. Which is why so many for-profit corporations release F/OSS.

> I'd be all for writing and contributing to free software if I could make a living off it.

People do -- by selling their expertise with the software, or selling solutions in which the software is an enabling component.

[bdicasa]

I understand this model, but with some software there is no obvious model for selling solutions beside the software. A lot of times the software is the solution.