Exactly, because in a highly competitive market (like software) prices always drop to marginal cost of production. Since copy/paste of software is free, the pri

Exactly, because in a highly competitive market (like software) prices always drop to marginal cost of production. Since copy/paste of software is free, the price inevitably drops to zero. The only way to charge a penny for the kernel would be to create artificial scarcity, or to create artificial legal restrictions to copy and paste... basically to override the free market.