Device drivers are the portion of an operating system that control devices, such as printers, video adapters, network adapters, sound devices and host adapters for controlling mass storage devices such as disk drives, tape drives and CD-ROM drives. It is common for the manufacturer of a device to develop a device driver for the device and contribute it to the operating system developer and/or distributor. However, at least two effects derive from this arrangement. First, if the device manufacturer provides the source code to the operating system developer/distributor, the manufacturer may forfeit some control over the publication of the source code. Second, the operating system developer/distributor controls when—and even whether or not—the device driver is included in its distribution of the next version of the operating system. This control may be in tension with the device manufacturer who knows customers who want to purchase and use the device in a system running the operating system.