2009/1/1 Kenneth Gonsalves lawgon@au-kbc.org:
according to this, the whole idea of licensing libraries under GPL instead of LGPL is to *prevent* those libraries from being used for proprietary software and *force* the programmers to write free software. Is this what is happening here? These people are enjoying the best of both worlds - a great con.
It gives an advantage to Free Software developers over proprietary developers. No one is forcing anyone. If you don't like GPL, don't take it. Even if by mistake you take GPL code in your program and some one finds it out later, you are not forced to release your code. You are given a choice
1) release your code under GPL 2) Stop using the GPL code and find something else
Even in the worst scenario, you are not forced to release you code, though that might be the best thing to do.
You might want to check out this presentation about comparing FOSS to ocean and proprietary to earth http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail659.html
If the code only comes in and does not go out it becomes a swamp. As discussed earlier, forcing one to use GPL is a cost one has to pay for ensuring everyone's freedom. If you can't afford it, you can look for other code.