Oh, are Saas companies physically preventing you from running your own software now? Pray tell, what else are the evil saas monsters preventing you from doing?

I didn't say that, I was simply pointing out that your comparison was flawed.

That said, there is a similar dynamic at play that both drives down voter participation rates and pushes users towards proprietary software.

Citizens who elect not to vote and users who elect to use proprietary software are not making those decisions in a vacuum.

It is entirely possible to place some value on your right to vote while choosing not to do so because you’ve determined that the benefit from doing so both to you personally as well as in its ability to impact the broader system is not worth the time and energy.

Analogously, it is equally possible to place some value on open and free software while choosing to use proprietary systems for exactly the same reasons.

Lots of things in the world function in this way due to network effects and inertia, as others in this thread have explained.

For example, you might be aware that prices of goods and services are inflated by the costs associated with credit card transaction fees, while still deciding to pay with credit cards because you know that your individual decision to do so will have no impact on the price that you personally pay.