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

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

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

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