[petercooper]

Most of the examples you cite are situations where the software is being used as a client or at a distance (in terms of being far down the stack) and not as part of a deliverable. I think using such software is considered straight forward by most (if not by paranoid corporate policies, such as those you've encountered).

Where it gets more difficult is when potential dependencies are (A)GPL licensed. While I support the use of these licenses (particularly the AGPL for protecting cloud deployment of open source tools), I recognize the "friction" they can cause for certain classes of users who might just use something else to avoid thinking about it. (Which, you might say, is their loss.)