In the early 2000s, many anticipated that the rise of open-source technology would lead to a widespread adoption of Linux-based desktop systems, with users transitioning to using OpenOffice and GIMP. The belief was that with a little push to make Linux more user-friendly, even grandma would be able to install it.

However, reality played out differently. The release of Windows 2000, followed by the even more successful Windows XP, along with the increasing popularity of Mac computers running on x86 architecture and the emergence of Big Tech in Silicon Valley, and the dominance of mobile operating systems, all contributed to a different outcome.

What is often overlooked is that many of these advancements were, in part or in whole, powered by open-source technology. Linux and GNU, for example, have made their way into our daily lives without us even realizing it, as they do not come with the fanfare of a traditional desktop operating system.

This is not to mention the widespread adoption of open-source infrastructure products such as MySQL, Apache, nginx, Redis, Memcached, Python, Ruby, Rails, Django, and thousands of others. The entire Internet has shifted towards open-source.

While this outcome may not have been what Mr. Stallman envisioned, it is in fact even better.