Consider this: would you find normal if a company hired 100 graphic designers for a project, and then paid only the one they choose.
Then they would say "Should I pay all the graphic designers I need in this elaboration process ?"
If you train your eyes, you will not need to test hundreds of fonts for a project. 3 or 4 will do. If you buy a few typefaces regularly, you will get to know them and you will be able to know for which project they will fit.
Also, the end user is not the client. Foundries request that you have a valid license to use a font, for every computer where the font is installed. So if your client will also use the font, he will need another license. But buying a license for your client does not mean you don't have to buy a license for you, when you design a project.
So, no I'm not ok with the foundries license terms. But They're not dupe: the recent FontFont photoshop plugin aims to fill the gap between real life and a "perfect" copyrighted world, it is not perfect, but an encouraging first step. I assume if foundries continue to adapt to the digital world we're in, providing us efficient tools we won't be in need to skirt their inadequate rules.
In the other hand, each time I used a font in production, on screen or printed, I always made my client buy it (end user !) , so it appear to me that for make good design (on the web it means stop using systems fonts), and also make the typedesigners make deals, my only option is to find commercial fonts on forums like this one, then make my clients buy it.
So downloading commercial fonts for free doesn't mean necessarily a loss for typedesigners, the problem would be to use it for commercial without buy it.
This is my ethics.