This is a good point but also a little circular since the good vendor specific languages tend to break free — like Netscape’s (and nominally Sun’s) JavaScript :-)
(and I think SQL started at IBM but I’m not sure if they tried to keep it proprietary or make it a standard)
Sometimes! Google still controls Go. Microsoft has retained control of dotnet. Java more successfully escaped Sun/Oracle, but that ecosystem is still governed by a very small number of mostly very large companies.
Regardless the author getting 7+ years of runway out of a specific technology is hardly a waste! My average technology switching time is probably closer to 5-6 years.
(and I think SQL started at IBM but I’m not sure if they tried to keep it proprietary or make it a standard)