Comment by redvenom

If you just read his writings on the importance of free software, he never was that "crazy" to begin with. He simply saw examples of companies locking down their hardware so that they could control it at the consumer's expense.

Exactly this is happening with Apple now. Although Apple computers were fairly hackable in the past, with users being able to install Linux or Windows, that is changing. Apple is changing the hardware _and_ software to make it more difficult to do things that Apple does not approve of.

Stallman was keenly aware of this type of behaviour, and he was also aware that companies that have the potential to use this behaviour to this advantage, will often do so.

Apple wants to be in a position where they sell computers as appliances, and Apple Silicon is their step towards doing so.

By the way, I'm typing this on a Macbook pro that is no longer supported by Apple, but running Linux. I am not sure this would be possible in the world of Apple Silicon.