Low cost is everywhere nowadays, in transportation, housing, food, clothing, ... Minds have changed and we all start questionning the real value of highly priced services. For software, the game is a bit different: the battle between open-source and free software started long ago, but over-priced software still exist. There is no need to discuss the different reasons, zealots of hegemonic companies will find reasons often starting their laius with "leader in his domain", "most famous", etc. Do not misunderstand me, I'm not a religious defender of open-source: some service worth their costs. I know very well that sometimes freeware can lead to extra costs, in human labor or hard-won money! I think that the different solutions existing worth being examined.
I gathered in this book ideas from my own experience to build-up my processing environment. I do not claim for any kind of truth, my choices often reflect personal biais. The reason for sharing thought and experiences is to help the average scientist to find solutions for surviving to poor decisions made for them by the "professional buyers" that any large institution must have in our century. Consultants may also find some ideas to cut their production cost.