I think its important not to think of free software as mutually exclusive with paid software. It's been proven that you can create a profitable business by cre

I think its important not to think of free software as mutually exclusive with paid software. It's been proven that you can create a profitable business by creating open-source/free software and building a business on top of that. Same goes for SaaS apps that have free plans. Take a look at the article on Zimbra that was just posted. 40 million paid email boxes. Yet, there is an open-source version of Zimbra's software suite. Similar things going on for places like RedHat, MySQL, Google Apps, SugarCRM, etc. You can create an open-source app and reap the benefits of it ... and still make money by: - selling premium versions - selling support - selling hosting with per-seat licensing - selling add-ons and custom development services