The GPL is not the only license used within the open code movement. A
second class of licenses is ordinarily called "open source." Open source li-
censes are less restrictive (or less freedom enhancing, depending upon your
perspective) than free software licenses. While free software licenses require
that derivative work be free, open source licenses have no such requirement
(where, again, "free" means that the source code must be made available to
other users, not necessarily free of charge).[4-29] Microsoft is free to use the
Apache server (licensed under an open source license) and incorporate it
into a proprietary product; Microsoft is not free to take Linux and incorpo-
rate it into Windows.

This is an important difference, no doubt, but not so much for our pur-
poses here. The GPL is enough of a model to understand the argument that
follows, so the argument that follows presumes the GPL as the license.
Where there is a reason to distinguish, I will be careful to make sure you see
the differences in these two kinds of (legal) code.[4-30] But for now, let's assume
the legal code governing this free code is the code of the GPL.

///\\\

As I said, the Linux operating system is licensed under the GPL. That
means that the source code of Linux travels with the code itself. Anyone can
tinker with the code; anyone can see how it works.

Any code that derives from this open code must itself be licensed under
GPL. This code, and the knowledge it teaches, is therefore open and free.

Proponents of open code sell it on the promise that users are not hostage
to open code projects. That claim is true, but in two very different senses --
one small, one big. The smaller claim is just that users, or coders adopting
open code, can tinker with that code. They can control the code, changing
it as they wish. As Peter Wayner puts it, the "free source world... [is] a re-
turn to the good old days when you could take apart what was yours."[4-31] You
can add functionality or fix functionality that is imperfect as supplied.

Other operating systems are not open or free. Apple, for example, licenses
and sells Macintosh computers. Macintosh computers come with the
Mac OS. Bundled in the package of programs shipped with the Mac OS 9
is a program called File Synchronization. The aim of File Synchronization
is to allow a user to keep two sets of files synchronized. If you have laptop
and desktop computers, then the objective of File Synchronization is to
allow you to make sure that the files on both systems are kept up to date.

But File Synchronization has a problem. If you try to synchronize files
whose icons have been customized (icons are the pictures on the desktop

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