There is a lot of software (some would say the strongest) that benefit from a
persmissive license and do not have a lot of forks (free or not) that cause
the original to be obsolete. Where are all these jQuery forks? Apache? nginx?
How about programming languages like Python, Ruby, and Scala?
The reality is that the attacks on permissive licenses are FUD by GPL zealots
and the FSF. I mean... the GPL is their license and their baby so they have
to protect it. There is this "fear" that software under a permissive license
automatically means that someone is going to take it and lock it down.
Sure, that can happen, but I found out that most users and developers of that
software (commercial or community) would rather spend the effort in
contributing back to the project than spend the resources forking a project
like jQuery or nginx and having to maintain that codebase.
I personally don't develop core software, but more of an integrator and do
not modify the libraries that I use or bundle with. For example, if I create
software in Python and use Qt and have to include the Qt libraries, I want
the best way to be able to ship them with the source code for a client.
Thankfully, Qt is licensed under the LGPL and not as draconian as the GPL.
