Since when has free software been a &quot;purely academic field&quot;? Or for that matter &quot;non-commercial&quot;?<p>The whole point of the free software movement is to ensure that users have liberty. That&#x27;s not something that can be done from academia, it can <i>only</i> happen in the field.<p>As for non-commercial, did the OP forget to read the zeroth freedom? The freedom to run the program as you wish, <i>for any purpose</i> - that includes commercially.<p>Hell, the FSF says as much:<p>&gt; “Free software” does not mean “noncommercial”. A free program must be available for commercial use, commercial development, and commercial distribution. Commercial development of free software is no longer unusual; such free commercial software is very important. You may have paid money to get copies of free software, or you may have obtained copies at no charge. But regardless of how you got your copies, you always have the freedom to copy and change the software, even to sell copies.