The FSF did not gave up on HURD "just because it's too hard" but because the
Linux kernel, distributed under the GNU GPL, was there to fill the gap.
Notice, for instance, that that the GNU project never started a window system
because the X window system, distributed under a free software license, was
there to fill the gap.
As for rms, I think he is, today, the most influential advocate for free
software. If, instead, he would keep on programming all day long, he would be
one among the tens (hundreds?) of thousands of free software developers.
Developing free software is not the main problem the movement is facing. The
main problem is making users, and even GNU users (who think they only are
Linux users), realize they have freedoms and should fight for them.
Contrary to what you write, users do not know what "Linux" is. Most of them
think it is a whole operating system created by Linus Torvalds. And Linus
Torvalds does not care about freedoms. As a consequence, most users do not
know the values that lead to most of the operating system they use.
