Software is political. It mediates countless human activities and thus establishes the routes on which we can feasibly act when computers are involved. Writin

Software is political. It mediates countless human activities and thus establishes the routes on which we can feasibly act when computers are involved. Writing Free Software (i.e. freedom-respecting software) is a political act, and if it's done in service of furthering user autonomy it helps us to approximate the necessary goal of gaining power over computers instead of being subject to artifacts produced by programmers in service of their corporate goals. The software artifacts themselves are only a part of the tools we have. Political representation also matters, e.g. through organizations such as the Free Software Foundation Europe, the Software Conservancy, or the EFF. The downsides you mention in writing and maintaining Free Software are not restricted to this activity but to any activity that isn't easily exploited for financial gain. (Examples include mentoring people, cultivating and producing art, etc.) This doesn't say much about the activities in question but the systems we've collectively put into place that discourage desirable pro-social activities.