I think it gets twisted partially because the quote is wrong. It should be "if a _service_ is free", not "when something is free." I don't think any of the examples you've listed would be considered a service, but rather either a platform (OS) or product.
The quip is certainly overplayed, but I think the notion still stands. It is important to be aware of what intentions service providers and product sellers have. It's not so much a dig on libre / free software.
> A generational garbage collection is slower than freeing a stack frame, but has a lower per item overhead than calling `free()`.
Almost, but not always. The Cheney on the MTA [1] paper describes a generational GC where the first generation is the stack. So for collections on the first generation, collection is equivalent to clearing a stack frame.
IIRC this is basically the same way the PS Vita handles it. Although in that case you can definitely smell something fishy with the way those "custom" save cards are priced. It's only a tiny bit larger than a MicroSD card and has 1/2 the capacity of one? But twice the price?
Hopefully the cartridge usage in the Switch doesn't drive prices up too much because of it. I get that production is more expensive, but after a certain point there are definitely some questions about why standard flash storage solutions aren't good enough.
The quip is certainly overplayed, but I think the notion still stands. It is important to be aware of what intentions service providers and product sellers have. It's not so much a dig on libre / free software.