I suspect what we are missing is has to do with IP ownership. To greatly simplify, guilds had a straightforward way of handling the IP of the trade or craft --

I suspect what we are missing is has to do with IP ownership. To greatly simplify, guilds had a straightforward way of handling the IP of the trade or craft -- it was secret and you couldn't tell outsiders anything and every tradesman was committed to a considerable term of service (decades) dedicated to the trade. Trades were fairly closed communities. You couldn't steal the IP, the IP you generated couldn't be stolen from you. We have greater freedom in our lives today and lack the institution of bondage to the company/craft (remember that a guild effectively represented both things). It might be that trusts are an effective way to reintroduce meaningful ownership. Any IP a developer generates, they retain a certain residual interest in and right to; but it is administered by the guild (a trust management company) and on favorable terms since it is assumed to be the result of use of other IP managed by the guild.