Not everyone gets to be a dotcom millionaire...plenty of people have to work for a living. And with his skillset, at least he didn't have to settle for a $20K/yr job flipping burgers.

You're still missing the point. Making millions was obviously not his driving desire. You simply don't build Open Source software if your primary motivation is to make a lot of money.

I think you're still missing the point by focusing on how much he would be earning a year. He may have been perfectly happy with $20k a year making Diaspora- it certainly seems like money was of little concern in his career choices.

He didn't mean he wouldn't want to work at Facebook for 200k because it wouldn't be enough money. He wouldn't want to work there because he was working on replacing Facebook with something more open and morally better.

I think a lot of entrepreneurs would consider it a failure to have to work for facebook or google for a living. It has very little to do with money.

indeed. as an employee, you have a price. you have expectations. as an entrepreneur you have a dream. some entrepreneurs sell out and relinquish their dream. maybe they find a new one. others will never sell out, as a matter of principle. they are uncompromising in that regard.