As I’ve said many times before, Open Source is quite a big business. Well, it looks as if Open Source is also pretty darn big in in the retail arena as well. Having their foothold in a store that sells software that sells anything but Microsoft products is certainly a different approach to be sure.

The Linux and open source software movement has a retail store ” possibly the only one in North America ” and it is offering a low-cost, very lightweight laptop computer that is devoid of Microsoft software.

The Sub300 store could be called a Mecca for the Anything But Microsoft crowd. The store’s president, Marc Silverman, says most people who contact the store do so because of an intense dislike for Microsoft.

“A lot of people are sick of Microsoft and Bill Gates,” he said in an interview. “They hate that their computers crash once a week. They hate viruses. They hate paying so much for Microsoft software.”

On Friday, Silverman announced that his Toronto-based store will begin an intense marketing campaign of its Sub300.com Ultralite Laptop for $799. The 2.9-pound laptop has the Linspire Linux operating system and OpenOffice software including word processor, spreadsheet and data base filer.