Almost the right timeframe, but from my perspective the GPL2/GPL3 split is what broke everything. The GPL was a glorious hack as long as it was alone in its niche (supported by admonitions against license proliferation), but its success was predicated on it instantiating itself as a singleton. But the basic problem was simultaneously desiring (a) the ability to combine any collection of software and (b) preventing certain combinations of software. Now that we have to choose, the zeitgeist seems to have given up on (b).
