When it comes to businesses using open source software, medium and large enterprises seem to get most of the press. However, small office/home office (SOHO) setups with 10 employees or less may see even greater benefit from switching to open source applications.

Why should all the legions of small and home offices consider open source software? Cost savings. A simple switch from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org, for example, can save a small business around $400 (or more) per PC. When you're in the start-up phase and counting every penny, that savings can make a huge difference.

With these business owners in mind, we've put together a list of 50 superb open source apps for SOHO users.

Accounting

1. TurboCASH

Designed as an alternative to QuickBooks, TurboCASH is a simple but flexible small business accounting program with multi-user and multi-company capabilities. On the downside, it only runs on Windows, so you'll need an emulator if you want to run it on Linux. Operating System: Windows.

2. GnuCash

rest here