I'd like you to imagine a world where GNU and Linux never took off, where we'd probably all be paying for Windows Server licenses in order to run websites. One where you need to pay to download a compiler, and all you get is the binary.
That's hard to imagine, given the freedoms we enjoy now. I can download a world-class OS for free and distribute changes to it without any hinderance other than my own skill barriers. Same for DVCSes, video players, browsers, modelling software, desktop environments, compilers, and so on... That was not the case in the early 90s.
FOSS wasn't a complete nor a permanent revolution, but revolutions rarely are. Point is, it changed the world, it changed business, it changed developers' day to day experience, and it's disingenuous to pretend otherwise. We still rely on corporations to make software, but they are now socially pressured and incentivized to release the source of a large portion of what they make for free. Maybe we haven't seized the means, but we are right there with the big guys at the means, sharing power in a (relatively) new and exciting way.
MINIX and BSD were already free. More free tools would crop up, just like free Windows tools abounded since their inception, like the hobbyist software that was traded for free before that. Nerds who just like making software would always have kept giving it away for free, because they just like the fact that they can and it's fun to do.
It didn't change the world that much. Nearly every company that makes internal software refuses to release it for free. They'll happily use whatever you give them for free, of course. But even if it weren't around for free, they'd just pay for something else. Most people would probably use Android as the example of the "revolution" paying off, but before Android everyone just paid to license mobile OSes, and they will again when Android eventually dies. Business does not care about the morality of a license, nor sharing code. You pay for what you need when you need to, don't pay for what you don't need to, and pass the cost on to the customer. Simple as that.
That's hard to imagine, given the freedoms we enjoy now. I can download a world-class OS for free and distribute changes to it without any hinderance other than my own skill barriers. Same for DVCSes, video players, browsers, modelling software, desktop environments, compilers, and so on... That was not the case in the early 90s.
FOSS wasn't a complete nor a permanent revolution, but revolutions rarely are. Point is, it changed the world, it changed business, it changed developers' day to day experience, and it's disingenuous to pretend otherwise. We still rely on corporations to make software, but they are now socially pressured and incentivized to release the source of a large portion of what they make for free. Maybe we haven't seized the means, but we are right there with the big guys at the means, sharing power in a (relatively) new and exciting way.