I think you could argue that it took radical people with radical opinions to make open source what it is today, but GPL is overkill for modern development and (in my opinion) completely unnecessary.
Attempting to control what people do with the software they create is, in my opinion, not only wildly inappropriate but also very self-defeating, as it limits the number of people who can do anything with your license. Likewise, there's this:
"Take a look at pretty much any embedded Linux project and you will find a GPL violation. For example, most ARM devices are unusable without binary drivers that rely on specific builds of specific Linux kernel versions (example - you can't get sound or accelerated video on the Raspberry Pi!). I've had one plug computer maker tell me they have a custom version of Linux and they won't provide the source."
(from @sedachv's comment)
The sheer number of GPL violations out there in real life point to the fact that the license is unenforceable in practical terms, because of the legal budget a project would need in order to prosecute what is essentially an epidemic of victimless crime. If your project uses GPL, you're more likely to see an increase in corporations shrugging off open source licenses (or laughing at them) than an increase in corporations contributing code back. GPL violations are not a criminal matter. You can only enforce them with civil lawsuits. Who's going to pay for that?
Imagine if Linux aggressively asserted its rights under the GPL against every violator out there. it'd be a full-time job for a whole team of lawyers -- an astronomical expense which absolutely nobody would benefit from, except for the lawyers themselves.
There's absolutely no reason to expect companies to comply with the GPL, other than good manners and good ethics, both of which are rarer than they ought to be. The GPL just encourages those qualities to become even rarer. It's self-defeating and it's bad for open source in general.