> I can't go propose a change to the Linux kernel unless Linus likes it. I could maintain my own fork, but it would consume nearly all of my free time.
But if that change is not that big or fundamental you can still apply a patch with relative ease. Thats already huge compared to most proprietary Software.
> It seems to me that all this talk of freedom is mostly philosophical, rather than practical.
I disagree. It may not be always that easy in practice to take advantage of your freedom but that makes it not worthless. Maybe it's too much work for you to maintain a (partial) fork of the Linux kernel but if you find yourself a group of like minded people it may be perfectly possible. Free software also is by far unable to magically fix all of our societies problems but it is one tiny part of making the world better.
But if that change is not that big or fundamental you can still apply a patch with relative ease. Thats already huge compared to most proprietary Software.
> It seems to me that all this talk of freedom is mostly philosophical, rather than practical.
I disagree. It may not be always that easy in practice to take advantage of your freedom but that makes it not worthless. Maybe it's too much work for you to maintain a (partial) fork of the Linux kernel but if you find yourself a group of like minded people it may be perfectly possible. Free software also is by far unable to magically fix all of our societies problems but it is one tiny part of making the world better.