[catchnear4321]

businesses have to be convinced to use something before they can be convinced to pay for something.

this is a common saas/open source model. the company works on the source, and has a for-pay slightly better version with some proprietary features.

any drug dealer knows you get more customers if you give a bit out for free.

[techbuttman]

Windows has always been cheap or free for universities for similar reasons.