Ad infinitum? No it doesn’t.
> Prices for software have gone to zero.
On earth?
> Software engineers routinely become millionaires, and some billionaires.
They don’t but if they did, this could mean the opposite of what you think it means.
I didn't pay a cent for any of the software on my Linux machine. Free Open Source software is everywhere.
In the 1990s, the Seattle Times wrote that there were 10,000 Microsoft millionaires in the Seattle area, excluding the value of their homes.
Charles Simonyi became a billionaire as a Microsoft employee.
At the same time I'm not sure that the computer industry is a good example for your claim due to its roots in the Bell telecommunication monopoly and the massive subsidies from the US military that lead to the wide availability of the cheap personal computers that most of the open source software that you are talking about originated from.
If anything the rise of American tech giants and the proliferation of cheap computers is directly attributable to decades of intervention by the US government and not a free market success story.
Bell invented the transistor, not the government. The rest is history.
I am not aware of any subsidies that Microsoft, Apple, etc., received from the government, let alone massive subsidies. Intel received zero subsidies for the 8088 microprocessor, which really launched the computer industry. Not for the 286, 386, x86_64, etc., either.
> is directly attributable to decades of intervention by the US government
Oh come on. I've been in this business for 50 years, with zero government intervention (other than I pay my taxes).
DEC (maker of the famous PDP-10 and PDP-11) did not get subsidies from the government, although it sold equipment to the government.
> I'm not seeing the connection between a relative lack of regulation in the software industry and the price of FOSS software being (close to) zero
Regulations are a massive cost to industry. There are no regulations on software development. I don't have to get a permit to write software, or sell it. I do not need a license. I do not need any government approvals. I do not need any certifications. Anybody with a keyboard can write software and make it available under any terms they want (usually free!).
Has the government paid for any of this FOSS software? I've never received a dime from the government for my 26 year efforts in making FOSS software.
> or your larger assertion regarding free markets and prosperity in general.
The most prosperous economies in history and the world come from free markets, not socialist ones.
The combination of these government interventions amongst others is what enabled the rapid development of these fields which lead to the computer revolution that we all enjoy This is an amazing thing to be sure, but it isn't an example of free-market forces at work.
It's an example of a government reading the global conditions in which it found itself in and successfully responding to those conditions by regulating and investing in key industries to ensure the dominance of the nation that the government manages. No doubt there were problems with these government interventions but they are on the whole an amazing success story for America and the world as a whole.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen didn't dream up their ideas for computing in a vacuum, they were fortunate to come of age in a time and place that gave them access to state of the art computers in their youth and later as young adults when Gates attended Harvard where they developed their BASIC on a PDP-10 that was funded by DARPA.
> Yes, I've heard the story that X was the result of A+B+C+D+E+F+G and B was done by the government, and so the government gets all the credit.
I'm not saying that the government gets all the credit here. I'm simply saying that the success story of the American tech industry is one that is the result of seeds planted by the government decades ago and one that we all enjoy the fruits of. Government regulations, investments, and purchasing contracts play a large role in why you and I can use and enjoy free software in our every day lives.
The field may mint millionaires at a higher rate but it’s still not routine.