I used to be a card-carrying, passionate advocate of Free Software. I used to see Stallman lecture. I only installed Free Software on my personal computer to the fullest extent possible. I was considering buying a coreboot-compatible laptop to get rid of the rest.

But then, slowly, I stopped caring. It felt really similar to when I decided to leave Catholicism. I started noticing that these beliefs weren’t really actually helpful, and were frankly, mostly harmful. Now, I’m not saying Free Software is harmful. What I am saying is that refusing to use a wifi connection on your laptop because there aren’t free drivers helps basically nobody, and only harms yourself. Even if you are the kind of person who thinks boycotts work, there just aren’t enough free software diehards to form a large enough boycott. And even then, you’d want to do the boycott together, simultaneously, to send the message.