The other irony is that GPL is not even free (as in speech) either, it imposes rather strict conditions.
Software freedom is a double-edged sword: to have it, you have to restrict other people's freedom to take it away from you.
The only "strict condition" is that it enforces the golden rule. That's really all its designed for.
I actually do release some code under GPL, but it's when I want those restrictions in order to prevent certain types of commercial usage (and of course when my code uses or is based on GPL code). But I certainly don't consider it to be free in any way except free as in beer.
Recall that the GPL started because RMS was a user of a particular type of printer and the printer driver was bad. He was a user of the software yet he couldn't have it fixed (well, he could if the company that wrote the driver did the fix).
I have to disagree though, most users have no clue what that means other than it costs them nothing. And many developers simply ignore and violate the terms because they don't understand the restrictions.