Take a look at early open source licenses, those that did not make it into the present (e.g. the POV-ray licence). Even people who opened their sources where of

Take a look at early open source licenses, those that did not make it into the present (e.g. the POV-ray licence). Even people who opened their sources where often fiercely protective of their creations. Today it's usually all about protecting the creator (from various kinds of litigation), only the GPL adds a bit of impersonal "for the cause" flavor. The extinct licences, in contrast, were often bristling with protection of personal attribution. "Mine forever" used to be a big concern. Today there is the idea that being the one person who knows more about a piece of code than the rest of humanity combined is a thing of value by itself and that this does not require protection. Letting your code free won't take that away from you, at least not as long as you care. I guess that idea just wasn't part of the mindset of that age.