And yet, in a competitive marketplace for servers, the BSDs and closed source operating systems have not succeeded to nearly the same degree as Linux, despite predating Linux by many years.
Why do you think that is?
(I'm not trying to be a jerk and ask rhetorical questions; I'm actually pretty jazzed that you're thinking about this critically.)
I think it beats windows because it's free... It beats the others because it is the best free option. I don't know WHY it is the best version honestly. I don't see why gpl Linux would lead to a better OS than bsd, other than Linus is good at making an OS?
Because apple don't have to contribute OSx stuff back to the BSDs (nor did Microsoft when they used a BSD networking stack in windows 95) but e.g. google do have to contribute android kernel stuff back.
You've still totally missed the point. Free software is not about helping you make money. It is about user freedom and improving the lot of the whole of humanity. (NB Free software does not mind if you make money - it is just not there to help you do so.)
Why do you think that is?
(I'm not trying to be a jerk and ask rhetorical questions; I'm actually pretty jazzed that you're thinking about this critically.)