I believe the reason why Gavin was giving out 5 Bitcoin free was because back then the value of Bitcoin was almost nothing compare to now that the value of Bitcoin is crazy. And some of the people that was dashing out Bitcoin and were using it anyhow are somehow regretting now because they didn't know Bitcoin will be this great and Bitcoin will continue to be great as long as it continue to exist.
I disagree with you bubby, because what you above is not the reason why Gavin was giving out 5 bitcoin. If you read what Mr Gavin said on that thread you will understand that the reason why he was giving out 5 bitcoin for free to people was because he want the Bitcoin project to succeed, and he thought that the bitcoin project is more likely to be a success if people can get a small amount of bitcoin's to try it out. And not because bitcoin had no value then, and even with the current price of bitcoin there are people who are still capable of giving out 5 bitcoin to people.