The Rationale of Giving Away Free Product

The free product defines the ground level of the active customer base, who have a potential to buy paid product extensions, documentation and services like training , consulting.
It also puts the company logo on the customer's desktop. Thus enhancing the brand recall.
Another advantage is that a new entrant, who is a potential rival has to compete with the free version first, thereby giving the company a lead time to enhance the paid products.

Ashish Banerjee (www.Ashish.Banerjee.name)