How can there be an incentive to produce safe products if companies like Apple can just cover up such instances? I think they deserve damage to their reputation; hopefully it will teach to ensure that their products are safe.

Have a look at SugarCRM. May I also recommend this podcast: http://twit.tv/floss32

I completely agree. We continuously see the recording industry and politicians equating copyright infringement with physical theft. This is dangerous and misleading, let alone defiant of logic. It seems obvious when I say that when I take, for example, a bar of soap from you, you no longer have the bar of soap. When this is applied to intellectual property, I simply cannot take it from you as it is not tangible. This is significant, yet this seems to be forgotten or ignored my some.

I think once a GPLed application has become well development and stable, it's good that it lowers its restrictions. Perhaps free software developers should eventually feel free obliged to release the software under the LGPL or some other weaker copyleft license. In the early stages of a project, a need for contributions from the community and corporations is strong, but as the project develops that need diminishes. As this need diminishes, perhaps it is fair that in return the project reduces its restrictions.