There is a silver lining to the whole GPL issue though: enforcement. Like any license, its power is only legitimate when it can be enforced. When you get a license to drive a car, for example, the police enforce this rule. Here in PR though, thousands of people drive without a license, and it would only be known when someone is pulled over by the police and asked to produce their license, which in this case wouldn't exist. The police then have to enforce this "license abuse". The same scenario exists with GPLed programs. Who is there to enforce the license? And furthermore, how do you even prove that someone has violated the GPL? All you usually have is speculation and circumstantial evidence. One great example of the ineffectiveness of the GPL is the PySol project, which was unashamedly ripped from its author by several companies who claimed it to be their own, despite being "protected" by the GPL.
Furthermore, the GPL was, is, and always will be self-righteous. People actually believe that it will stop huge companies like Microsoft from using their work, as if they actually have something to fear..."my code is so great! I don't want Microsoft stealing it! I'll tack the GPL on it so they can't!" Which is yet another issue...the GPL gives developers a false sense of security. You include that pretty little license file in your distribution and you think you're all set, right? Think again. Anyone can simply delete that license file, change around your code just a little bit, rebuild it, and distribute the modified binary without source code and there's not a thing in the world you can do about it. A large company, who has more money than you ever will, can even steal your program, copyright it themselves using legal methods, and then turn around and sue YOU for copyright infringement on your own program.
Look up "GPL lawsuit" on Google and see how many unique items you find...recycled stories over and over again, mainly regarding the Monsoon suit a couple of years ago...amazing that it wasn't until almost two decades later that an actual case went to court regarding the license. Effective? May the Linux zealots continue to believe that...