This is a laptop for hardware development and security research, hence the features [0]:

* FPGA on the mainboard

* Lots of digital and analog IO headers connected to CPU and FPGA

* Dual Ethernet

* USB OTG

Also, it's not just about licensing, but about having more control over the hardware.

[0] http://www.kosagi.com/w/index.php?title=Novena_Main_Page