[Ambassadors] Free Media Distribution

[inode0]

On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 3:06 PM, Hisham Abdel-Magid
<himam at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I'm a civil engineer currently in Doha, Qatar .. while promoting for fedora
> i usually face a direct request for Fedora Live CDs from my colleagues ..
> Currently, i'm handling it by burning CDs/DVDs on my own laptop, and i print
> the Sleve cover using a coloured printer on normal A4 paper and then crop it
> where necessary ...
> To be frank with you, i am not happy with the end result when it comes to
> the CD it self (bcuz it still says "Sony CD-R" ^_^) ... anyhow, that's the
> limit of my humble budget for now ...
> and I did not join the FreeMadia Programme bcuz of this "poor" end-result

Are the people who receive this free media from you unhappy? If they
are happy and install and run Fedora as a result then I would say the
end result is excellent. :)

> Therefore, I would be much obliged if someone advise my about where/whom to
> contact for requesting Fedora Live CDs in order to distribute them here in
> Qatar... or at least how can i get some decent-looking FedoraCD's Physical
> Art?..

As I understand it Fedora media distribution has really three sources.

(1) The FreeMedia Program: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/FreeMedia

This is designed to help Fedora contributors get Fedora into the hands
of people who have either economic or network hardships that make it
difficult for them to acquire media for themselves directly. Pretty
packaging of the media isn't an objective, although each contributor
can handle that however they choose. If volume is a problem in your
area the best solution is to recruit more contributors to the program
to ease the burden on each contributor and to get as many requests for
media satisfied as possible.

(2) The Sponsored Media Program:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/SponsoredMedia

This program gives one the opportunity to fund free Fedora media
produced by a vendor to distribute through the Free Media Program.

(3) Pressed Event Media: This is normally intended to be very high
quality in terms of production value and is funded normally by the
Fedora Project for use by Fedora contributors at events where they are
representing/promoting Fedora. So if you are attending events where
you are handing out Fedora media you can request a supply of these
through whatever process exists in your region.

Periodically the question comes up as to why we don't use this same
media and packaging for the Free Media Program? Some people think we
should, at one time I thought that way myself. There are a couple of
things to think about here. The Free Media Program is a way for
individual contributors to help others acquire Fedora. Part of this
contribution is providing the media itself, the postage required, and
the time to transfer the bits to the media. This is a very personal
way to contribute and in a way that makes this a special program to me
now. When you contribute some code to a package you generally don't
know who you are helping. When you spend a few minutes preparing Free
Media for Bob in Topeka, you know exactly who you are helping.

It is pretty much logistically impossible to produce fancy pressed
media and distribute it in small amounts to hundreds of people around
the world so they can use it for the Free Media Program. This would be
very expensive for the project.

To everyone who recently burned a few CDs or DVDs that they could
spare, wrote Fedora 10 on them with a Sharpie, and mailed them off to
someone they have never met through the Free Media Program please do
not feel uncomfortable with the "production value" of the media you
shared with others. All contributions to this program are acts of
generosity and kindness to others and I think it is one of the very
best examples of why the Fedora community is so great to be a small
part of.

John