[janneke]

GNU is not an ecosystem (see <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.en.html#Ecosys...>), it's a philosophy.

Yes, it's old. Yes, there's only little interest. Yes, there are _still_ many technical problems.

The interesting thing here is that technical problems can be solved, and will be solved given enough time. Heck, I've heard rumors that even Windows does not crash multiple times a day anymore.

Focussing and working on what is popular will most likely create a world that is less free every year. Some people rather work on something that seems right and promises a better, freer future. Even if it's not popular (right now), even if it has a high probability of failure.

Popularity is a very volatile property...

[darksaints]

The biggest success that GNU has had is that they made it incredibly unpopular to keep source code proprietary and closed. It is no longer necessary to limit yourself to just the GNU OS in order to enjoy limitless freedom of computing.

And popularity might be a double edged sword, but double edged swords are still useful if you're careful.

[janneke]

That's a great compliment as I think the core vision of GNU is that all software should be free (<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.en.html>).

Although keeping software proprietary or writing proprietary software may have become somewhat unpopular in some niches (I'm not sure it's incredible unpopular seeing how many people and institutions still use and often advocate Apple, MicroSoft, use FaceBook, WhatsApp, whatsnot...), I'm not yet convinced that many people (say more than 1%) really believe that all software should be free and act on that?