How does that help if the code we want to use is a library? A recent example was an image manipulation need. We found a great library that met all our requirements, but was GPL. Our other options were an inferior MIT-licensed library, an inferior commercial library, or spending the time to write our own.
If the thing you want to use is a DLL, how do you use it without linking to it? Writing some sort of external process and using IPC to talk to it might fulfill the letter of the license, but it's more work and less robust, and still violates the spirit of the GPL.
In the end, we picked the MIT licensed component and worked around the issues.
You either decide not to use it, using another component with a different license or writing it yourself, or you release you code under the GPL.
That's not so hard, is it?
It's just like the question you get when using proprietary software. If you don't want to pay the license fee or abide by its terms and conditions, you find an alternative or write an alternative yourself.
The obligation to release your code is just the license fee for the GPL. If that's too steep for you, look somewhere else.
If the thing you want to use is a DLL, how do you use it without linking to it? Writing some sort of external process and using IPC to talk to it might fulfill the letter of the license, but it's more work and less robust, and still violates the spirit of the GPL.
In the end, we picked the MIT licensed component and worked around the issues.