ftvcs's Journal: Web Analyses FreeBSD (BSD) vs. GNU/Linux (GPL)

I still don't see why Linux is better than BSD.
Is it because GPL is more motivating for a programmer?
I can imagine it's not nice to see your work being stolen and improved for a commercial use. Although I think the FreeBSD guys liked it very much, to see their work going into Apple's OSX.

I see it like Esperanto: it's a language no one speaks, so why using it? Half the internet world speaks English. BSD/OS has existed for years. Suddenly comes linux, a new inexperienced OS and gets all attention. The differences are: the license, the reputation, .. ?? .. I'm sure I'm missing something here. Maybe it's Linus: is a Norwegian nerd cooler than a US university (Berkley)? It's true Linux has a more fascinating tale of from the small first news post to a huge IBM/AMAZON/GOOGLE major operating system. Beats "derived from BSD UNIX 4.4". Does that matter?
Now it's true there are more drivers for Linux. But why? This is again the story of the chicken and the egg.

I guess it has to do with timing. Linux is often compared with windows while BSD gets compared with Solaris. BSD makes a perfect server. (see Netcraft max uptime, it's all BSD) While Linux is more aiming for a small server, maybe desktop thing.

UPDATE: I just read BSD had some problems with the IP-filter license which caused many to doubt to even try FreeBSD in it's early versions.