67 Open Source Replacements for Really Expensive Applications – Firebird Replaces #Microsoft #SQL

Why spend thousands or even hundreds or thousands of dollars on a closed source application when you can get a comparable open source app for free? Even if you need commercial support, many open source programs now offer paid support that costs much less than the alternatives.

For this list, we looked for quality, open source alternatives to software that has a reputation for being expensive. Whenever possible, we included MSRPs for the expensive software, though in some cases, the pricing scheme is so complicated that it’s nearly impossible to pin down.

We published a similar list last year, and we’ve updated and expanded the list for 2011. If you have suggestions for next year’s list, feel free to note them in the comments section below.

Read the full article here on Datamation

Firebird Replaces Microsoft SQL Server Standard ($7,171 per processor) Going on 30 years old, Firebird boasts “excellent concurrency, high performance, and powerful language support for stored procedures and triggers.” This community-based project isn’t owned by any commercial entity, but you can get paid support from a variety of third-party partners. Operating System: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X, Solaris