Looks like Linus did more or better work. I 've never used/seen a gnu hurd system in my life.

Edit: Well, then you should not stop at Stallman. Hundreds of scientists, going back to Godel and beyond gave roots to modern open algorithms/software by giving away their academic research for free. I think Linux did not start just to be a free kernel, but because linus wanted to actually make a better system than minix (and learn to use 386, and finish his Master!).