nvidia has always been hostile to open source, as far back as i can remember.
back when nvidia bought 3dfx they took down the source code for the open 3dfx drivers within days, if not on the same day. i remember because i had just gotten myself a sweet voodoo 5 some weeks before that, and the great linux support was the reason i chose it… of course the driver code survived elsewhere, but it told me all i needed to know about that company.
also: linus’ rant wasn’t just a fun stunt, it was necessary to get nvidia to properly cooperate with the open source community if they want to keep making money running linux on their hardware.