The letter is the result of a flood of requests on Dell's online suggestion box, IdeaStorm, for Dell PCs pre-loaded with both Linux operating systems and the open-source suite of desktop productivity applications. John McCreesh, marketing project lead for OpenOffice.org, also asked Dell to consider making a financial contribution to the software's development.

After launching IdeaStorm, tens of thousands of people posted requests for the Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker to pre-load open source software onto its PCs. Dell has not made promises, saying it would work to "certify" its PCs for some versions of Linux and would consider taking further action.

The OpenOffice software suite is available for download for free.