As an individual, free software is valuable for a me if I can modify it at will, say at most with one month work and without having to learn arcane techniques. However this is not the case most of the time, so using free software not so different from using a proprietary system.
For example I type this on a Linux laptop, which is unable to enter a proper sleep mode even if it was possible on Linux 20 years ago. The fancy keyboard lights up its key every few minutes without clear reason. I am using the Chromium browser but it does not display correctly the non Western characters and when I make a right click, garbage appears.
How could I modify all this within a month time frame or even a few years? It's impossible.
The situation would not be different if I was using a proprietary system.