Executives representing several open source software companies collaborated on an open letter to President Barack Obama in the hopes of moving open source solutions to the top of the list of ways to implement parts of his national economic stimulus plan. The letter asks Obama to make FOSS a "key component" of all new technology initiatives implemented during his administration.

Of course, that's a tall order. Under Obama's new plan, everything from digitized medical records and nationwide high-speed Internet access to improved classroom technology stands to benefit in some way. Stuart Cohen, CEO of Collaborative Software Initiative, is confident that this letter is the first step toward helping determine which initiatives should get attention first.

You might recall that several weeks ago Jeremy White, president and CEO of CodeWeavers, promised to had out free licenses for the popular commercial version of Wine if at least one of a handful of (seemingly) unlikely economic goals CodeWeavers set were met before President George. W. Bush left the White House.

Surprisingly, one of those goals has been met. Gas prices have dropped below $2.79 a gallon in the Twin Cities and that means free software for everyone tomorrow at CodeWeavers.