Linux: Does price matter more than freedom?

Linux: Price versus freedom

One of the best things about Linux is that each user is free to use or modify any open source software. But one Redditor recently raised the issue of the price of open source software as a big attraction for some users. 

Does price matter more than freedom when it comes to open source software?

When we the free software community speak of Linux and GNU, we focus on freedom to tinker, audit, modify, use, and redistribute. 

Free software matters because every single person can never have an infinite budget. Billions of people have no computing access or inferior computing access because of proprietary software licensing costs, or because they have access to hardware without any proprietary software support and also without free software operating systems and drivers.

As part of this, I think Linux and free software enthusiasts content for us to be a 1% or 2% niche of the computing world are short-sighted. The poor kid down the block or the poor villager across the globe will never be of interest to Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, Google, or Samsung. But we can help them reach Wikipedia, Tor, Khan Academy, etc... etc... when the companies don't care.

More at Reddit

REF: https://www.infoworld.com/article/3163448/linux-does-price-matter-more-than-freedom.html