> free software isn't produced outside the system. it is thoroughly embedded
> in it because it depends on parents and employers to support free labor
> (put clothes on its back, roof over head, and bread and beer on their table).
This is based on false premises. People get paid to write free (as in speech) software. *I* got paid to write free software, and others did and do get paid to add to the same project: <http://mitgcm.org/> IBM, for example, pays people to write their free software. Volunteer contributions may be a big part of the phenomenon and how many projects get started (discounting work that gets done in the course of one's job), but much of the heavy lifting is done by explicitly paid labor. Please stop trying to build arguments on the notion that this work is some sort of hobbyist frivolity.
My point about the picket lines is this: they inconvenience consumers.
They require consumers to do more work, to make an effort, to understand, to give a fuck. They don't work unless you sign up, yessir.
What's more, using free software no longer requires you to compile your own kernel the way it did ten or fifteen years ago. You can set the GUI up to behave like Windows if you choose. If you wanted to be strict, you might have to forgo YouTube. How does that compare to living off of a strike fund?
As for corps being hot for Linux, that's because Linux kicks some fearsome functional ass. This, at least on Stallman's part, is an accident. But they can't build on Linux for their customers unless they contribute the same to the commons. That may not be the revolution, but it ought to make your groin swell all the same.
-- Andy