[lelanthran]

>> and all those thousands of full-time employees working on Linux would have created value for the shareholders of their employers, not value for the Linux users (like they currently do now)

> But aren't the biggest Linux users companies? They use Linux for their data centers, for the mobile phones they sell.

Yes, and? I am not seeing the point you are trying to make ... those "biggest Linux users companies" are making large contributions to Linux. That is, in fact, the point of the GPL - that they make their contributions to all linux users, not just to their shareholders.