[geeks] Why Linux and not *BSD?

[nate at portents.com]

Hopefully folks here can shed some light on something I've been wondering
for a while... why do so many companies choose Linux instead of *BSD for
their OS (especially if it's embedded)?  What's coming to my mind is
PalmOne (the next version of PalmOS is going to be Linux based), Sharp
Zaurus SL-5000 and SL-6000 series, TiVo, PlayStation 2 consumer dev kit,
and even obscure projects like the Qonos scientific PDA:

http://www.hpcalc.org/qonos.php

What do these companies gain by going with a Linux kernel over something
like the NetBSD kernel?  Is it mostly for a marketing bulletpoint and
something that will please investors?  Or is Linux in some way actually
technically better?  Or is there genuinely a better 'community' around
Linux, and if so, why?  (Is the GNU license that much more appealing to a
majority of people than the BSD license?)

Whenever I read editorial pieces it's always Linux vs. Windows, almost
never a mention of BSD.  IBM is supposedly working on their own Linux
distribution for end users, and some people like to hypothesize that if
google did their own Linux distribution they could go up against
Microsoft. It seems no one even considers *BSD.  Why is that?

- Nate