I suspect the (L)GPL is a big part of why Java has more-or-less completely ceded the data space to Python. Corporate policy makes it painful for me to take a dependency on GPL (including LGPL), too, and that makes building and maintaining data applications in Java an absolute minefield, because so many projects are copyleft. Even the packages that are Apache, MIT or BSD licensed often require you to plug in netlib-java (LGPL) if you want decent performance.

It's encouraging to see a project like Tribuo come along, but it also feels like too little, too late. I'm already well underway on jumping ship and migrating to Python, and have yet to encounter any particular reason why I should look back.

> [...] but the requirements to get commercial license is a deal breaker for many.

I don't understand why this has become the norm. Would your company not use smile to, presumably, make money?