Becoming an Open Source Lobbyist?

Random Guru 42 asks: "With the recent MFP scandal in Toronto, with we taxpayers having to take the brunt of the cost of licensing and leasing software the city doesn't need, I'm wondering what it would take to lobby the city to start switching over to open source software. Has anyone ever tried to lobby your local council to make the jump away from expensive, closed software?"

Comments

Re:Don't promote Open Source.

[PeteQC]

..Promote Free Software [gnu.org] instead.

Lobby for Open Source OR Free Software is good. The important thing is to not divide our efforts in things the usual non-geek would not understand.

Very simple

[JediTrainer]

The City of Toronto recently put out RFPs for replacement PCs. The MFP-leased ones are now up, and the city had asked for companies to bid on contracts to replace them with new machines and software.

Guess what? The bidding process is over, and no companies that were offering free software qualified under the terms. The contract has now been awarded to another company (who will be providing MS software, surprise surprise), which I'm sure will be scrutinized quite a bit to make sure there's no rip-offs. So try again in 3 years when the next lease is up, but this time put together a professional proposal complying with their RFP requirements and I'm sure it would be considered.

I think if a company came along and actually BID on the contract, preparing a decent presentation as to how the city would save costs, they would have to listen. After all, the City of Toronto is very interested in saving money, as they've dug themselves quite the hole in recent years (mostly due to the Province of Ontario not being particularly generous).