Even if you want to stick with a closed source operating system (or, the case of OS X, partially closed source), your business can still take advantage of a vast amount of open source software. The most attractive benefit of doing so: It’s generally available to download and run for nothing. While support usually isn’t available for such free software, it’s frequently offered at an additional cost by the author or a third party. It may be included in a low-cost commercially licensed version as well.
Is it possible, then, to run a business entirely on software that can be downloaded for free? There certainly are many options that make it possible — and many more that aren’t included in this guide.