i have an idea: almost any software will eventually become free, because otherwise there would appear an analogue of that software which is free, and the first won’t survive competition with the second. because free has an important property/quality - it’s free. and market will choose free software, it would prefer to pay for the free alternative and/or it’s support. btw, this is about development, about progress, thanks to entrepreneurship and fair competition. i would also like to add - free software is a way to measure democracy: if it exists in country, if it develops, it means that laws about equal possibilities to make business indeed work. moreover, if authorities choose free software over proprietary, it means that they are less corrupted, less dependent on already existing corporations that sell proprietary software. again, this means it is more about equal opportunities and working law and court, about society where companies must compete by qualities of their production, ...