So, I see this as rationalization.

The fact is, you took a leadership position, and later turned your coat for reasons that perhaps made sense to you. But they don't really make sense to anyone else. So, yes, everyone who supported you then is going to feel burned.

You also made yourself a paid voice that was often hostile to Free Software, all the way back to the SCO issue. Anyone could have told you that was bound to be a losing side and you would be forever tarred with their brush.

So nobody is going to believe you had any reason but cash, whatever rationalization you cook up after the fact. So, the bottom line is that you joined a list of people who we're never going to be able to trust or put the slightest amount of credibility in.

And ultimately it was for nothing. I've consistently tried to take the high road and it's led to a pretty good income, I would hazard a guess better than yours, not just being able to feel good about myself.

Meh, it's easy to find people with skill. With values, OTOH...

You have a point.

I have a GED, and I assure you I earn substantially more than most CS graduates

You'd think that'd help you deal with your insecurity.

Would Apple be where it is if Jobs wasn't an asshole?

Do you think Linux would still be a success if Linus wasn't there to keep dumbasses from accumulating more political clout than technical competence and steering it toward ruin?

I bet we'd all be using Hurd now, we'd have a colony on Mars, and there'd be peace in the Middle East. Nothing promotes innovation faster than living in a hugbox that respects all opinions!

How? What's the rate of geniuses among children who need public assistance?

I suspect you'd get a much bigger bang for your buck by focusing on the embryos.

Humanity is nothing but genes. Some tens of thousands of them, but yeah, compared to the scale of the universe, that is a few.

What you're actually sad about is that you can't comprehend how that figuratively infinite variability translates into the things your feeble brain finds comforting.

Gattaca was paranoid luddite whining that rationalizes lying and cheating when you can't adequately compete against people who are better at things than you.

If you stuck me in front of a computer to mimic code someone showed me at 7, I'd have thought "okay, great, when is recess?"

Wait, computer time wasn't recess?

I actually think the ubiquity of computers is the reason CS graduation rates have declined since before the dot com bubble. For the millennials, the magic never wears off because computers were never magical to begin with. And kids don't program for fun as much these days because the distance between what they can write and what they see in AAA video games is astronomical.

When I started programming I thought I was the shit when I made a 3d cube rotate on a TRS-80. Sure, it was simple, but it wasn't like I was used to seeing 3d computer graphics on a home computer. Graphics like that in The Last Starfighter blew my fucking mind.