Comparing prices skips software freedom

[J.B. Nicholson-Owens]

Rui Miguel Seabra wrote:
> Do the prices for
> MS XP Home + Equivalent Developer Tools + Adobe Photoshop + Decent Maths
> program + Complete Office suite + ....
> 
> Just so you make a fair comparison.

And what price shall I place on software freedom?  I view software freedom
as a bona-fide feature and I'm willing to pay for it.  I know that software
freedom doesn't mean a lot to some people, but it means a lot to me and I
don't know what price to put on it, even if I just talk about the practical
outcome of having it.  Microsoft will not let me buy a copy of Microsoft
Windows licensed under a free software license at any price, so I'm tempted
to say that the value of software freedom makes the price of Microsoft
Windows too high, even if I get a copy at no charge.  Many proprietary
programs won't let me install more than one copy on separate computers and
run them all at the same time (even though I have more than one computer in
my house).  Software freedom is the one thing no proprietor can supply and
yet it's what I want.