Despite the wealth of free applications out there, many small business owners continue to spend an inordinate amount of their all-too-scarce resources on software. Microsoft Office 2010? That'll be $499.99 -- or $279.99 if you can do without the Professional version. QuickBooks 2010? $159.95 or more. Adobe PhotoShop CS5? A whopping $699.

While open source software has been around for years, it often required specialized IT skills and a lot of babysitting. That, combined with a general lack of applications, was enough to keep most small businesses at bay. But thanks to the ongoing financial malaise, which appears to be acting as a catalyst toward adopting open source products, those days could well be over

Small and home businesses (SOHO) can benefit greatly from using open-source software applications. Cynthia Harveys offers a tasty buffet of 50 to get you started.

Despite the wealth of free applications out there, many small business owners continue to spend an inordinate amount of their all-too-scarce resources on software. The good news is that there are free and open-source alternatives for virtually every package a small business might need.

HP has been quirky over the years when it comes to open source. It has been, traditionally, a company that supports open source -- especially in larger enterprises. While large businesses are a major focus for HP -- and it has supported open source in other ways -- a "smaller business" line of open source products has been a long time coming.

Businesses of all sizes are more interested in open source software than ever, but smaller businesses may not have the legal staff or procurement departments to sort through what's useful and what's not. Happily, crafting a proper policy to acquire and deploy open source software is no great mystery, and something any business can do.

Novell today introduced a new suite of workgroup applications for small businesses, based on "proven," open standards-based software. The Novell Open Workgroup Suite Small Business Edition includes Linux server and desktop components, and bundles email, collaboration, and other open-source office products.

The Open Business Foundation (OBF) operates on two premises: that the open source development community makes good business sense, and that small businesses can be more successful if they band together with each other to share resources of all kinds.

"The Open Business Foundation (OBF) operates on two premises: that the open source development community makes good business sense, and that small businesses can be more successful if they band together with each other to share resources of all kinds."