Dear Marco, I don't think this is the place to discuss the ins and outs of science. The scientific community and arena can be frustrating and I would say (i.e., as an opinion) that you should only work in science if the subject itself grabs you. I left the software industry for biology 15 years ago and have not looked back. I love my work.
We are organizing a COVID-19 biohackathon coming week for free software and free data. Feel free to watch and join. We are using some proprietary tools - usually they come with lab protocols - such as sequencers - though for me I try to avoid them as much as possible, and we can create free alternatives. But overall I am pretty happy with what I can do in science with free software and I only write free software! Let free software rule. I am excited about free hardware developments and Linux phones. Hopefully we'll get GNU Guix on those soon. Pj.
