How, exactly, would it hurt? Perhaps by... discouraging use from companies that want to keep their changes private? I am completely fine with that. Proprietary code should not be allowed anywhere near the kernel or hardware support. Would it hurt in any other way?

As a concluding remark, I'll just repost what I posted elsewhere in this thread:

>Consider what happens if you're wrong. What happens if the GPL actually is the reason why Linux has such wide open-source hardware support? Then say goodbye to hacking on Fuschia on your own hardware...

>I'm not willing to take that risk.

"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken!"

Linux does not have wide open-source hardware support on mobile phones, so that argument simply doesn't work in this space - you're arguing in favour of a supposed status quo that doesn't actually exist in the first place.

>How, exactly, would it hurt? Perhaps by... discouraging use from companies that want to keep their changes private?

Yes. That would hurt, because as a user I am very much interested in the products of those companies.

And Google wants them as an OS vendor too.

>I am completely fine with that.

Well, the vendors and Google are not. And neither would I be.

Proprietary code should not be allowed anywhere near the kernel or hardware support.

So that only second tier vendors bother applying?

Your forgetting an important one. The default is a bsd-3 like license. Google prefers to release everything under that single license unless there are strongly compelling reasons to do otherwise, and "it can't hurt", even if it we're true, is not strongly compelling.