Mahesh T. Pai wrote:
How do we tackle these kinds of tender notices?
These tenders can seldom stand legal scrutiny. But, we need to take action at many levels, to avoid such tenders at all:
Global Level: The best solution would be an International Free
Software Treaty, so that both at International and Municipal State levels, free software is the default installation with few exceptions. The path towards achieving this may be long and require great effort. The recent article by RMS at http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/wsis.html is a reality check.
National and State Level: The next best immediate solution is to pass
legislation that mandates procurement of free software, on the lines of the South Australian Act passed recently. At the administrative level, a lot could be done.
Grassroot Level: This is where the real action lies. Demos are the
easiest way to spread its use. A critical mass of free software users can exert enough pressure to make free software and philosophy the default method in public affairs also.
Regards, Ramanraj.