I don’t think interest is the issue for most of us. I’m certainly interested and likely capable to create a firmware that can boot Atmosphere. I do not know enough about the Raspberry Pi Pico yet to begin.I wouldn't say that
Problem is it seems like nobody here is actually interested enough to start working on a fw themselves
That or there are people working on one and just don't want to share it here because their PMs will explode with demands and questions like "are you done yet?"
So for some of us, it may simply be that we aren’t knowledgeable enough. Knowledge takes time. People also have other (likely better) priorities that need to come first. Things like family, work, and living a life that maintains proper social standards.
Simply put, it’s going to take time for the right person to come along and help us out. It may never happen, but I don’t believe that. And yes, it may be that you need to pay for the privilege of booting Atmosphere. Would that be so bad?