The whole early period of web development is quite interesting. The decision about the licensing was not the only crucial decision which made it succeed, like release of libwww, focus on super simple browser which works on any platform (line mode) or introduction of gateways ... Recently I wrote a blog post about it focusing on design of first browsers and forces which were driving it.
Btw early users of the web mostly didn't know about the original Tim's vision and the 1st web gui browser/editor prototype. See for example hn comment from someone who was using original line mode browser under a post about the first browser/editor:
https://blog.marbu.eu/posts/2023-04-29-the-first-web-browser...
Btw early users of the web mostly didn't know about the original Tim's vision and the 1st web gui browser/editor prototype. See for example hn comment from someone who was using original line mode browser under a post about the first browser/editor:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34218748