I don't think it is necessary that everyone does things Stallman's way; the fact that rms knows what his principles are, articulates them clearly, and lives according to them consistently provides an informative example from which the rest of us can borrow whichever elements we find useful. We don't all need to live like Stallman does for his ideas to have value, because he's already doing that for us. He is essentially a modern secular prophet.
But -- I can form my own ideas. I don't think that his ideas are anywhere close to perfect. He seems relatively fixed in his ways, so I don't see him contributing to dialogue or discussion of how ideas can be changed or improved.
