Distributing distros under the GNOME Banner

[Bryen Yunashko <suserocks bryen com>]

Does GNOME have a particular policy about providing distros in their
booths at events?

I think its not as important to have GNOME distributing distros at
FOSS events because obviously we can refer our visitors to distros'
booths if they want to try out GNOME.  But its the non-traditional
venus that have me stumped.

At non-traditional events, you encounter people who probably haven't
even heard of open source until that day.  And you need to give them a
copy of *something* so they can try it out at home.   I get a bit
queasy when trying to figure out what distros to provide at these
events because I strongly believe that GNOME should not be perceived
as endorsing or favoring any particular distro.  Yet, how do we do
this properly?

At CSUN, in March, we asked GNOME-A11y team members to contact their
distros that they work with and send us a batch for giving out.  Only
Novell ended up sending us any media.  No one else did.    My hope at
that time was to see several distros on the table and thus no apparent
favoritism toward any one distro.   For AEGIS in Spain next month, I
have decided to only give out one distro, and for this round, I've
asked ubuntu to ship us a batch.

So, the disadvantage I see of having multiple distros at one table is,
its confusing to an uninitiated person entering into the world of open
source.   The disadvantage of having a single distro is we appear to
be endorsing one over another.

Actually, I had hoped to distribute Vinux, which is a spinoff of
Ubuntu because it is an a11y-proioritized distro.  But alas, its only
available as a download, no minted copies and while I thought about
it, I realized that doing it myself would have been either too
cost-prohibitive or time-prohibitive depending on which way I would
have done this.

So, what's GNOME's stance on distro distribution under the GNOME
banner and how do I resolve this question I keep asking myself?

Thanks,
Bryen M Yunashko
GNOME-A11y Outreach