I use Linux and loads of free software, and I'm enjoying it. Using a package manager surely beats downloading an installer or a zip file as far as I'm concerned. I'm not sure what package manager you are using, commodorejohn, but to me, "dependency hell" means that pacman will display a list of required packages and prompt me to install them. Admittedly, I don't use software like photoshop or any 3D modeling software, but as a developer, I can say that to me, both professionally and personally, free software has been all great. I modify and incorporate components of other software as far as the licenses permit, I port existing software to officially unsupported platforms and I learn from reading freely available source code. Open source and free software is a huge resource however you look at it.
And hey, let's just mention things like nginx, apache, gcc, python, linux, gecko, webkit -- you'll find that free, open source software supports the bulk of the very infrastructure you use to call its proponents "freetards". From this site running apache, to your router most likely running Linux and into your browser.
