The answer seems to be that Android, before Google acquired it, took up Linux thinking it was a bit better than BSD alternatives without realizing that the lice

The answer seems to be that Android, before Google acquired it, took up Linux thinking it was a bit better than BSD alternatives without realizing that the license downsides would inevitably mean it's replacement (starting with the GNU libraries.) That naive view of real license costs was tragic for the BSD operating systems variants and society as a whole, wasting immense resources getting back to a BSD license they could, indeed, have just started with. Sadly, GPL - because it punishes contributions with patent loss, among other things - has a terrible record in curing freeloading. Yup, I agree it's a real problem. Nope, no very good solution in sight.