[Fsf-friends] Breeding free software

[Ramanraj K]

  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.