> Indeed my preference is definitely not to hack on proprietary software. However if I have to do the same thing I'd prefer not to have to choose and learn how to use two different libraries for example.
If there's a competing library under a permissive license with mostly the same functionality, the GPLed version doesn't really help. The point of the GPL is to create an ecosystem of software with compelling functionality that makes it much easier (and more fun) to hack on Free Software than proprietary software.
And if you're hacking on proprietary software, repeatedly encountering GPLed libraries you could be using instead of recreating their functionality from scratch makes it easier to make a case to management that maybe the thing you're working on shouldn't be proprietary after all, as well as making it more tempting to change what you're working on.
If there's a competing library under a permissive license with mostly the same functionality, the GPLed version doesn't really help. The point of the GPL is to create an ecosystem of software with compelling functionality that makes it much easier (and more fun) to hack on Free Software than proprietary software.
And if you're hacking on proprietary software, repeatedly encountering GPLed libraries you could be using instead of recreating their functionality from scratch makes it easier to make a case to management that maybe the thing you're working on shouldn't be proprietary after all, as well as making it more tempting to change what you're working on.