Yes ... we've heard about that sort of thing before, Jocky.
But I would say that your experience has been unfortunate, as not all "home grown" stuff is password protected, and some it may not protected at all (that is, can include source code for others to fiddle about with).
Anyway, why aren't you writing your own?
"Precious"? "Anal" you mean? There's no reason to password protect software unless you're selling it (and not even then, in my opinion). The only valid reason for password(s) is to protect access to the data.