In addition, Sun will release the source code under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

CNN: Big names plan to pre-install Sun's StarOffice

The GNU GPL undertakes to make sure that every user of the software has these four freedoms.

FORBES: Free Vs. Open

Users should be encouraged (and equipped) to encrypt any sensitive email using PGP or GNU Privacy Guard (see Resources).

CNN: Analysis: Linux security

The goal of releasing a program under the GNU GPL is to assure you the freedom to change the program.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Take the canny software license Stallman co-created: the Gnu General Public License.

FORBES: Leave It To Richard Stallman To Go There

Open-source programs across the board - the Apache Web server, the Perl programming language and the GNU development tool set, to name a few - are gaining legitimacy as a business platform.

CNN: Celebrated freeware OS Linux grows up

In a USENIX session on this subject, Apple's senior software engineer Fred Sanchez said that Apple was wary of software licensed under the popular GNU Public License (GPL), because of the restrictions placed on incorporating the code into commercial software.

CNN: Apple warms up to open source community

The ambiguities of the GNU Public license are responsible in part for Apple's lack of interest in developing for the many Linux distributions that are licensed under GPL. By contrast, said Sanchez, BSD groups do not demand that users of FreeBSD or NetBSD code contribute their innovations to the community, and are therefore more friendly to corporations.

CNN: Apple warms up to open source community