The thing with open source, with giving my copyright away, is that I cannot control who use it. For example, I invented a way of making a spreadsheet faster over the Web. But when I was working on it, first I’m working on somebody else’s prior work. Second, I cannot control who will be the next person using my work.
I was surprised, when one week later Uber took this code to make their dispatch faster. They did not have to ask for my permission — this is what we mean by collaboration. When I say that I’m picky, it doesn’t mean that I don’t share knowledge with these people.
It means only that: When I work on a problem, I don’t have their primary interest in mind. I consider the factors, when I make creations, principally with the civic society in mind. But if people in the public or the private sector also find the ideas useful, as they often do, they’re welcome to take it. They are, after all, a part of society.