It's a way to reduce the digital divide, said spokesman Jean-Baptiste Roger.
The sticks will probably contain the Firefox 2 Web browser, Thunderbird e-mail client, an office productivity suite such as OpenOffice.org 2, an audio and video player, and software for instant messaging, he said.
The exact mix of software will be defined by the company that wins the contract to supply the sticks, but will be open source, he said.