Same here. I am forever indebted to RMS and his crazy vision. May he be with the world for a long time. It has played a big role in turning my life around fro

Same here. I am forever indebted to RMS and his crazy vision. May he be with the world for a long time. It has played a big role in turning my life around from a college drop-out to almost getting my PhD in the USA now. If I had just stuck with proprietary software, I don't think I would know what I know today. It is that the idea that you actually could touch and understand the world, given enough time and dedication in a small, hot, dusty corner in a third world country with a cheap computer is extremely, extremely powerful. There is nothing else like it. Especially when I compare to many biologist friends from the same country as mine, they are much more disadvantaged compared to American ones, because of not having the $1M equipment and software they need back home. In the software world, I always feel like I had the level playing field, and the rest was just my dedication. As I am almost done with this stage, I am seriously considering devoting a big part of my life to developing free software so everyone will have the same chance I had. At the same time, I feel the world has moved on, and again social mobility now is not as high as when the PC was the king anymore (but maybe it's just because I am just in a depression now, the world changes alright).