But why can't free software compete without the government mandating it's use? Without licensing costs, it should have an advantage. The answer is that free software is often unresponsive to user's needs, and telling users to scratch their own itch is an example of that. Open source has achieved huge success among developers, because as a community of developers, they deeply understand those needs. It's been much less successful at developing products for non-technical users because it doesn't understand them, and has no strong incentives to try.