Comment by awesome_dude

> Importantly: it was never about cost. It was about the rights of users of software.

The cost (free) got me looking, but the rights, now that's what kept me.

Costs - being a poor student meant I was not ever in a position to pay for products (even those massively subsidised by companies like Microsoft) - there was no way I could buy an IDE, or a compiler, or anything that I needed to /learn/.

Rights - once I had the products, I was able to see how they worked, and, more importantly, make changes that worked for me, and, if desired, share those changes so other people could take advantage of them. None of that was possible under the other licences.