But it's all too easy to violate commercial software licenses unintentionally. Even if you perform an audit, you may still be at risk. Certain database vendors base license fees on the average number of monthly accesses. Sure, there are risks in going the open source route. But put these risks in perspective.
Commercial software can be risky, too.
Think about it. You could have been running Linux and one of several available open-source database systems, including Postgres SQL . As your business grew, you could have made all the copies you wanted. And that disgruntled employee couldn't have laid a glove on you.