@Ea5iyl For me, #AmateurRadio is about experimentation and learning. #FreeOpenSourceSoftware and #FreeOpenHardware is key to this.
And no, it is not free as in free beer, but free as in free speech.
An alternative would be easy accessible documentation with easy to understand specifications. But I ofthen find it hard, if not impossible, to find any documentation. And if I do, I usually struggle to understand.