I've been through those times, and I think you gave an excellent data counterpoint. :)
>> At the end of the day, however, you have a job, a wife and a son. Unknown people using your open-source software should be the least of your concerns.
++10.
Nowadays we have github, anyone can link to your Yet-Another-Something library written in javascript and boom, at least you have one user. But in the past there was nothing like that. We'd have to pray for someone to find the download link in our sourceforge project, get to download and compile it.
At the end of the day, however, you have a job, a wife and a son. Unknown people using your open-source software should be the least of your concerns.