When it comes to use free open source and Linux apps, small business owners know very little. More often than not, they end up spending huge amount of monet. 
Just think about buying a copy of Microsoft Office or an Adobe’s Photoshopt version. If you want to go for a paid email account, you better should think about some free Linux apps readily available to you for no cost.
The good news is that there are free and open-source alternatives for virtually every package a small business might need, and most of them are excellent. Whether or not you’ve already made the switch to Linux — there are, after all, myriad security and other reasons for doing so — these free apps can be just what any small business needs to succeed.
1. Accounting: GnuCash
Small business owners have always to think about a software that can cater to their financial-accounting needs. Avoiding custom-made software for such needs, business owners can think about GnuCash, which is a personal and small-business financial-accounting software package. GnuCash lets you track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. The data can be imported from programs such as Microsoft Money and Quicken; can be exported to spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel.
2. Backup: Amanda
Next big issue for startups and small business owners is the backup of data. Amanda is a wonderful option for backup and recovery of data. It allows you to have single master backup server to back up multiple hosts to a single large-capacity tape or disk drive.
3. HR management: OrangeHRM
HR management is a huge challenge for startups and small business owners. I worked in a health technology startup and I always noticed how mismanaged was the HR department just because of lack of proper software and solutions. OrangeHRM is a free package for human resources management and it offers modules for personnel information management, benefits, recruitment, employee self-service, leave, and time and attendance. Overall, a complete package!
4. E-mail: Zimbra
For small business owners, it is a huge benefit to have an email software available without much cost. Zimbra Desktop is free e-mail and calendar software offering e-mail, contacts, calendar and document capabilities all in one application. Zimbra also allows the users to read e-mail from any POP or IMAP e-mail account, including Gmail, Hotmail or business e-mail. It can be used both offline and online and there is no limit to the size of the email storage capacity. The software is available in 20 languages.
5. Office Productivity: OpenOffice
Without the ability to process word documents, spreadsheets, and prepare presentations, any startup or business would feel cramped for sources. The development will certainly be hampered. While I worked in one of the largest specialty media company, I noticed that the whole office used the best alternative to Microsoft Office–OpenOffice. With this, the organization saved a huge amount of money. The software offers components for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases.
