Well, this just proves unless you are willing to actually walk away you pretty much have zero leverage. I think he should have quit on the project long time ago

Well, this just proves unless you are willing to actually walk away you pretty much have zero leverage. I think he should have quit on the project long time ago to either have forced the big Co's to fund him or let someone else to take over. It's just what it is. The Github project in itself should provide him though with good prospects to get a good software engineer job. I myself have as well restrained from working on / releasing certain projects because I know it would just bring me more hassle than benefit even if people did use them. World doesn't work on charity, sadly. But if you need the thing you build yourself as well, it shouldn't be that bad as long as you know to set your boundaries for what you're willing to do.