Free POS and why it makes sense in business

twenty + years ago everyone thought Bill was off his nut when he offered affordable software which anyone could install on thier own hardware. Now we see an entire planet hooked on his idea.Now Netscape would not exist if not for a free roll out model in reality most mass marketed products start out as a free trial basis and once you are hooked.Why then has industry managed to avoid free software for business POS and even more important why has it taken this long for developers to figure out the money is behind the services not the software applications.If anyone has a better idea or an actual web enabled POS then we should talk.