They'll be heard only by those who choose to hear them. It's pretty difficult to explain to a layman why they should value free over proprietary software, because most of the benefits aren't really noticeable to the average user who just sees a shiny GUI that does things.
Not to mention the major players are doing a fine job of keeping people in a matrix, unaware of the alternatives. But really, most don't care. Perhaps if the public school system started using *nix in their curriculum, but with Microsoft funneling cash (like they did with the University of Waterloo and C#) that's unlikely.