While he has no objection to open-source development efforts, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is concerned about the "Pac-Man-like nature" of the license that governs the distribution of such software. In an interview Tuesday with CNET News.com at the TechEd 2001 conference, Gates observed that Microsoft routinely shares the source code for its Windows operating system with its partners. In addition, the company uses some open-source software in its Hotmail e-mail service. However, Gates said, "there are problems for commercial users relative to the (GNU General Public License), and we are just making sure people understand the GPL." Gates said Microsoft's stance on open source "has been misconstrued in many ways. It's a topic that you can leap on and say, 'Microsoft doesn't make free software.' Hey, we have free software, the world will always have free software. I mean, if you characterize it that way, that's not right. But if you say to people, 'Do you understand the GPL?' (then) they're pretty stunned when the Pac-Man-like nature of it is described to them.