That’s what I mean too. 

There is essentially a monopoly for node software. 

I don’t see the free market choice. There is essentially one version of the protocol — the one decided by core. 

If I choose to stop upgrading my current version of core, then eventually my software will break (lack of maintenance) and I will be forced to upgrade. 

It seems the only way to have choice is to become a master C++ dev to fork core and maintain my own version.