the accidental benefits of the free software movement: a global community working asynchronously, sharing code without pay. these important, critical benefits, which were responsible for the absolute dominance of things like gcc, the gnu coreutils, and linux - have been hopelessly devoured. all they had to do was strip away the pesky moral movement that all of these efficiency gains carried with it - and voila. money.
Except for the part where a lot of FOSS development is done by corporate employees, for pay, because the corporation uses the software too, needs it improved, and isn't above sharing those improvements with the rest of the world.
Need I remind you that every single web browser engine in common use is open source now? Every last one. Even the one Microsoft uses.
Why? Because it turns out that cooperating with the community, rather than fighting it, is far more efficient for all involved, behemoths included. We have made free software profitable, without sacrificing freedom.
And yeah, Predator drones run Linux. Everything runs Linux. Phones run Linux. Servers run Linux. Billboards run Linux. Routers run Linux. Video game consoles run Linux. Even Windows runs Linux. Linus Torvalds set out to achieve “world domination, fast”, and he has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams, without compromising his principles.
That's a win for FOSS. A really, really big win. One whose magnitude and importance I think Jes severely underestimates.