Using Linux is more than just using an operating system. It’s something bigger. Using Linux means fighting the evil big companies like Microsoft that operate in our over-commercialized world. Using Linux is like raising your voice for a noble utopia. Using Linux is freedom.
I do not think it is black and white. Free|opensource is definitely a way to go, especially when companies misuse users trust. However it is not a silver bullet and can be easily misused and circumvented as nicely does google with android. Of course nowadays quite a lot of work is done by commercial distributions like red hat or suse.
Also, this quote neglects the fact that many contributions are authored by employees of big tech companies, like Microsoft. The author of this quote needs to learn about how to use
git log --author="@some_big_tech.com"
From the OpenBSD handbook:
“Linux people do what they do because they hate Microsoft. We do what we do because we love Unix."
– Theo de Raadt
Why can’t both be true? Also at least the Linux goal got somewhere (servers and somewhat desktop attention)