@Takom >Also how many university students do you know that can write not only a functioning, but excellent kernel from scratch?

None obviously, but remember those BSD lawsuits? Part of why Linux took off was being at the right place at the right time. An entirely free Unix-like that's not BSD or Minix, which is fairly appealing to the populous. Other figures in the Unix community could've done this first but it seems they were more interested in license money or waiting out the lawsuit.