You're conflating two different things. The purpose of rewriting it is not to change the license. The purpose of rewriting it is to provide a modernized alternative with some benefits from the choice of language -- and the choice of license is incidental.
Kinda like how the purpose of creating LLVM was to create a more extensible compiler framework, not to create a permissively licensed compiler. As it happens the license of LLVM has not really led to the proprietary hellscape that some people suggested it would, and in any case the technical benefits vastly outweigh the drawbacks. Companies like Apple that do have proprietary compilers based on LLVM are difficult to describe as "freeloaders" in practice because they contribute so much back to the project.
> The purpose of rewriting it is not to change the license.
I didn't say it was.
> The purpose of rewriting it is to provide a modernized alternative with some benefits from the choice of language
I did not contend that either.
> and the choice of license is incidental.
This I disagree with - the license choice is not incidental; it is foundational to gain popularity in a hurry, to gain widespread adoption at corporates.
The rewriter's intentions is to gain popularity over the incumbent software; using a pro-user license does not gain popularity for all those pro-business use-cases.
The license switch from pro-user to pro-business is not incidental. It's deliberate, and it's too achieve the stated goal of replacing the existing software.
This is one place where I feel that the ends do not justify the means.