What you call "goring its own ox" is the author pointing out that there is an inconsistency in, on the one hand, wanting to influence how your software is used,

What you call "goring its own ox" is the author pointing out that there is an inconsistency in, on the one hand, wanting to influence how your software is used, and on the other, releasing it as FOSS. Elastic's license change is a consequence of it realizing that, in its case, these two things are not compatible, and preferring the former.