Can't really answer the whole "why free is better" thing because it's such an involved subject and it would never be allowed in the thread anyway.

What I can say, though, is that most people misunderstand what is meant by "free software".  It has nothing to do with price; Blender is "free" because of it's licence, it's a licence designed for "freedom".  No one person or company owns Blender and no one person or company can make decisions for it - that's the beauty of it.

The users are in absolute control of everything Blender stands for, everything it does, everything it's made of.