From a user perspective there is zero difference between the BSDs and Linux. You can use both of them however you want.
From a developer perspective he might have some point, but the developer camps are pretty much established between the BSD folks and the GPL folks at this point.
As a disclaimer, I use both. I prefer BSD, specifically FreeBSD, on servers and OpenBSD, specifically on security devices, over Linux. I use Linux for desktop and specialty systems.
I wonder how Apple factors into this since they probably represent the majority of BSD installations by now.
I’m by no means an expert (probably closer to the opposite), but I’m leaving BSD for Linux at my office and home servers. FreeBSD is too hard for me to configure properly compared to linux, and I can much more easily update and install software on my Fedora web server. In addition, Linux is more accommodating as a couple of software packages don’t run on BSD.
This doesn’t have much to do with embedded systems as I am a user only and a developer by the loosest of definitions. Now, if you could point me to a reference source that would clear up all my BSD confusion, then I’d consider staying!