Leaving aside the fact that this isn&#x27;t really settled legal theory...<p>Linux would be hurt more by nVidia&#x27;s absence than nVidia would be hurt by Linux&#x27;s absence.<p>Linux could disappear tomorrow, and there are plenty of free Unix-like alternatives that easily fill the void.<p>If nVidia disappeared tomorrow, there are lots of Linux contracts that would simply stop (and most likely switch to Windows).<p>Now, you can argue ideologically, but part of the reason why Linux is popular stems from the fact that Linus was more pragmatic about licensing rather than RMS&#x27; dogmatism.<p>If you want to see what a world with a strictly enforced GPL without modules looks like, look at the device support for OpenBSD.  A lot of Linux folks would be very upset being limited to that set of peripherals.