If you’re part of a small business, chances are you’re always looking for ways to save money. What many business owners and managers don’t realize is that they can get all the software they need to run a business — quite literally all of it in most cases — 100% free of charge. That includes operating systems, word processing programs, accounting software, email servers, graphic design programs and more.
If you put in some time to do some research, you might find perfectly free software alternatives that work just as well as Microsoft Office, Adobe PhotoshopAdobe PhotoshopAdobe Photoshop, QuickBooks, and other better-known programs.
Best of all, since FOSS is free to download and try, there’s no risk in testing it out. Take a look at some of these programs and see if a few of them would fit your business needs. You lose nothing by giving them a try, and if they are a good fit, you could save hundreds or even thousands of dollars in licensing fees and upgrades.