That's exactly how I read that sentence. There was no license, and ironically no license is more restrictive than most licenses.
Once you release code under a certain license you can pretty much never undo that. You can change the license, but the previous version under the previous license will still be valid. So I understand wanting to take time to think about what license you will use.
It's ironic because usually when there's no license, it's cause the author doesn't care what you do with the code. Anyone who actually cares will say "proprietary" or whatever.
Once you release code under a certain license you can pretty much never undo that. You can change the license, but the previous version under the previous license will still be valid. So I understand wanting to take time to think about what license you will use.