There has been some discussion of this in this thread:
http://www.sugarcrm.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18195
We are a small technology company of 5 people currently using the OS version. We have very simple CRM needs and the find that even the OS version is overkill. We do however have a strong need for project management (currently using Basecamp and some in-house tools) and would benefit from having this linked to our CRM. The problem is that the advanced project management is only available in the commercial versions. At $40 per user per month this would make sugarCRM be the most expensive software in our company and the additional CRM functionality that comes with the commercial version would be under utilized.

We would be happy to pay a per user fee if there were a lower entry point that enabled us to gradually integrate SugarCRM into our company's business systems. One that could grow with the company perhaps by adding more and more modules as the complexity of the business grows. Basecamp do this well by offering more or less active projects depending on what you pay.

At the moment I think SugarCRM is missing an opportunity for growth by placing such a high barrier between the OS and commercial versions. Because for us at least, from a financial point of view it is truly, a killer app.

I think it also runs the risk of losing market share though people thinking that the limitations in the OS version carry through to or are not much improved in the commercial version. Even the 30 day trial does not really help as it takes a real investment in time and effort to enter data, customize and integrate in order to see if the pro version is going to work. But you dont want to put this effort in unless you are sure you want to continue using the system.

I hope the team will consider these issues and come up with some more small company friendly pricing models because they aren't viable for us right now.

regards

Rob