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OpenCola - Open Source Coca Cola

everythingelse.wordpress.com — OpenCola is a brand of cola unique in that the instructions for making it are freely available and modifiable. Anybody can make the drink, and anyone can modify and improve on the recipe as long as they, too, license their recipe under the GNU General Public License.

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psilanthropist 1 year 235 days ago, made popular 1 year 235 days ago

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Bomega, on 10/12/2007, -2/+117This isn't exactely new and the website referenced in the article is now a link farm. Check the more complete information on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCola

It IS a cool story!
- dhollidator, on 10/12/2007, -5/+28Agreed, cool story. I'd be tempted to try it myself if I wasn't so lazy. Dugg up.
- Cenobite, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4The ingredients on the Wikipedia page don't seem too rare, but I want the can too :-(
- zeenus, on 10/12/2007, -16/+5Meh.. Stumbled upon it ages back :-)
  
  The Wiki (and Stumbleupon) have _everything_ !
- InetRoadkill, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17Umm, from my understanding, food recipes can't be copyrighted. (?) How can this be issued under GPL?
- aegis9975, on 10/12/2007, -2/+46By default all recipes are unable to be patented or copyrighted. Neither can Coca Colas' or Pepsi's, this is why they closely guard the recipe and protect it under "trade secrets". So in that respect any openly published recipes are "open sourced", and there are many cola recipes out in the open.
  
  http://www.lib.washington.edu/Engineering/ptdl/faq-answers.html
  http://www.ipwatchdog.com/recipes.html
  
  "Recipes:
  
  In general, recipes do not meet the usefulness criterion for a patent. That is, the combination of ingredients which make the world's best peach pie is not functionally different from an ordinary peach pie.
  
  Many companies, like Coca-Cola or Kentucky Fried Chicken, have secret recipes. Typically, they protect these recipes as trade secrets rather than patents. Since patents require the inventor to publish the invention, and since patents have a limited life span, any competitor can duplicate the invention after its patent expires. Trade secrets, on the other hand, are secret, and have no pre-set life span."
- smellinator, on 10/12/2007, -17/+7I think the title is misleading. This is NOT open source Coca Cola (which is a specific BRAND of cola). It's just some open recipe for Cola. I'm quite certain Coca Cola's recipe is a protected asset of the large company of the same name - protected by both trade secret laws and by keeping it a secret.
  
  Inaccurate?
- Matt2k, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15> Umm, from my understanding, food recipes can't be copyrighted. (?) How can this be issued under GPL?
  
  Your understanding is completely correct. You can not copyright a recipe and thus OpenCola distributed as a recipie would not be able to be licensed under the GPL, or any license that depends upon the framework of copyright.
  
  OpenCola might be able to claim that the document explaining the process is licensed under the GPL. Maybe. It looks pretty tenuous to me, but I'm not a copyright attorney.
  
  But the fact that you can't license the recipe under the GPL means I could take that ingredient list, make my own customized brand of cola, and not release my updated recipie list and I doubt there is anything that could be done about it.
  
  Noble ideas, but not workable, for the very reason that the ability to hold copyright on facts would otherwise be a terrible idea. You can't have it both ways.
- unlimitedorb, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4I'm going to lace mine with various drugs...
- slackerbox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10http://www.wikihow.com/Make-OpenCola
  
  WikiHow.com - Saving your life one day at a time.
- signal15, on 10/12/2007, -2/+35So is the new trend on Digg to go back and look at highly Dugg stories, write about them in your blog, and then resubmit them to drive traffic to your blog?
- daxsymbiont, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5god bless the gpl.
  
  god bless the internet.
- papereira, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Digg the article and very cool story, but I gave up soda/cola several weeks ago and haven't missed it since. I will occasionally have a drink of soda, but that is usually socially, and have no cravings since I've stopped.
- Jugalator, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"OpenCola might be able to claim that the document explaining the process is licensed under the GPL. Maybe. It looks pretty tenuous to me, but I'm not a copyright attorney."
  
  Yeah, I think in this case, this argumentation reveals that OpenCola was actually just intended to be a promotion tool for a guy's software.
  OpenCola wasn't invented with the intention to actually be an open source recipe, but more like a PR thing. See also e.g. Wikipedia for more info on this.
- badbox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"So is the new trend on Digg to go back and look at highly Dugg stories, write about them in your blog, and then resubmit them to drive traffic to your blog?"
  
  Where have you been for the past year?
  
  Yes, that is what digg has turned into because of everyone's "but omg, I haven't seen it yet!" mentality.
  
  That's why in a few weeks, I will resubmit this story through some crap blog I make up. When it gets enough diggs, I will link to this post to show everyone how they've been duped.
- TheKidd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Why, when I can just use the Coca Cola recipe:
  
  http://www.sodamuseum.bigstep.com/generic.jhtml?pid=10
- 0crabby0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is a great idea...
  
  You could also Open-Source peanut butter too, it's just salt, lightly roasted peanuts, and peanut oil in a blender...
  
  *And no salmonella*
- h0dg3s, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Great idea but I have to bury blogspam. Could have just linked to wiki.
- AegisGFX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I think it should be our missions to end all corporate dominations. Coke, Microsoft, etc.
- evilgold, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@bomega
  
  What website is a link farm? the only links from that article go to wikipedia.
- Splizxer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Ultimate cola recipe:
  
  1) Sugar
  2) Bubbles
  3) ???
  4) Profit!
schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20No Cola for me. I'll have Vores Øl.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_beer
- FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -7/+7open-source beer! (they have a new-ish site)
  
  http://www.freebeer.org
- Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -3/+37WTF, it contains guarana. Beer does not contain guarana. Trendy energy drinks contain guarana.
- championchap, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Which makes your reply easily the most trendy one in this whole story!
- sanguinemoon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6"WTF, it contains guarana. Beer does not contain guarana.WTF, it contains guarana. Beer does not contain guarana.
  
  That's what I was thinking too. Caffeinated beer?
- doctechnical, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5As the article admits, that's a half-assed recipe. There's no mention of what type of yeast is used, and the yeast can have a profound effect on the final product.
  
  FTA: "If this were source code, it would not compile."
- grumpyrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That must be free, as in beer.
balloonenstein, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Has anyone actually made any of this stuff before?
andrew522, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14I'd try it if I weren't so damn lazy. I like the open source where you download an iso and burn it to a cd. it doesn't require leaving the house.

It is interesting to see the types of oils used for flavor though. I have always wondered...
onionizer, on 10/12/2007, -9/+9ok, I am an open source enthusiast, i'm good with it, but... come on, a Cola under the GNU? this is stupid.
..and by the way. this is old. at least 2 years old.
tidu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17"Making soft drinks is not for the faint of heart, nor the dirty of finger. It is a solemn enterprise not to be entered into
lightly, as with marriage or buying used farm machinery."

tee hee
FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -12/+4...
dAbReAkA, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6"Sadly, the company is now dead."
which comes to say that it's the quality that sells, not the license as opposed to the common myth that open source >> all.. not always palls..
anyways, interesting read..
- BarriedaleNick, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11but it was never about the cola - it was about promoting open source software
jdepp, on 10/12/2007, -14/+1L*A*M*E
TravisS, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I think making homemade root beer is probably a lot easier.
- 0crabby0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sarsaparilla! let's make open-source sarsaparilla!
- garyh84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I like to dig up roses, cut the stems off and throw the roots in my beer.
uberdesigner, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3I'm assuming that this stuff tastes like *****.
pmichaelson, on 10/12/2007, -9/+7Drink water. It won't melt your face.
Easty, on 10/12/2007, -12/+5Alright, this ***** stops RIGHT NOW.
escape208, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15Anybody else freaked out by the fact that some of these things, if not handled correctly, can kill you? Although I don't think I'm going to change my drinking habits now...since as soon as I move onto the next digg story I'm going to forget this page ever existed.
- Rivetgeek, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6uh how is it going to kill you exactly?
  
  * 10.0 g food-grade gum arabic
  * 3.50 mL orange oil
  * 3.00 mL water
  * 2.75 mL lime oil
  * 1.25 mL cassia oil
  * 1.00 mL lemon oil
  * 1.00 mL nutmeg oil
  * 0.25 mL coriander oil
  * 0.25 mL neroli oil
  * 0.25 mL lavender oil
  
  * 2.36 kg plain granulated white table sugar
  * 2.28 L water
  * 30.0 mL caramel colour
  * 3.50 tsp. 75% phosphoric acid or citric acid
  * 2.00 tsp. flavouring formula
  * 0.50 tsp. caffeine (optional)
  
  Not exactly cyanide and arsenic
- ascheinberg, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10> uh how is it going to kill you exactly?
  
  Caffeine. Caffeine is really lethal in VERY small doses. To add it to soda, you use a very small amount (a fraction of a milligran) in powdered form.
  
  Fooling around with caffeine is not for the timid.
- championchap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Optional tends to mean dont do it as far as im concerned.
- doctechnical, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10"Caffeine is really lethal in VERY small doses. To add it to soda, you use a very small amount (a fraction of a milligran) in powdered form."
  
  I think you meant "fraction of a gram" - a strong cup of coffe can have over 100mg of caffeine in it.
- badbox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"To add it to soda, you use a very small amount (a fraction of a milligran) in powdered form. "
  
  Wrong. And LOL @ all the morons blindly digging you up.
  
  http://wilstar.com/caffeine.htm
  
  A can of RedBull has 80mg.
  
  Drip coffee has 115-175mg.
- retral, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I believe it was said somewhere that it takes about 6 grams of caffeine to kill you.
- obezyana, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1From the back of my Pepsi bottle:
  "CAFFEINE CONTENT: 25mg/8 flo oz; 63mg/20 fl oz"
  That's a *lot* of fractions of a milligram.
  
  If Wikipedia is to be trusted, the lethal dose of caffeine is about 150-200mg/kilo of body weight, so just one or two grams *could* kill someone. Then again, the half-life is only about four hours in most people, so you'd have to really chug your soda to do that kind of damage.
chriskzoo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Seriously, now recipes are being called "open source" - LOL
kidc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Do yourself a favor and DON'T go to the website listed in the article ("opencola.com") It's not the company website just some spam *****.
bananaguyc, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1What a stupid marketing ploy. It's not even cost effective for anyone to make this stuff at home. Not to mention the fact that soda is already high quality and practically as cheap as water in the stores due to robust competition.
- xchino, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Do you even buy your own drinks? A 6 pack of 8-oz Coca Cola is $5.19 at the local convenience store. That's .375 gallons of soda, or about 1/3 of a gallon. A gallon of spring water is $.25. So in what economy does something that costs ~$15 a gallon equivalent to something that costs $0.25 a gallon?
DjOverEZ, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2I'm getting a bit tired of calling everything "open source." This whole open source food thing is a bit overboard in my opinion. Would calling a pizza you made open source because you used a recipe rather than buying it from Pizza Hut?
- mozzep, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4it's not the cost effectiveness that attracts people. it's the do-it-yourself, play around with open source mentality, that intrigues people...
Kragnerac, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10But will they send it to me free like a Ubuntu CD?
waterandfood, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6The fact that the formula ends up with a ratio of (2.36 kg sugar to 2 tablespoons of formula/flavour) is scary, and an eye opener to what Cola (and Pop/Soda in general) is all about. However, it's nice to see this uses real sugar as opposed to the far worse (health wise) high fructose corn syrup.
- waterandfood, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Oops doing too many things at once... It's really two teaspoons, not tablespoons, thus making it even worse!
- redballoon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And you could further replace the granulated white table sugar with organic cane sugar or even agave syrup or xylitol. I really don't know why Coke doesn't produce a 'premium' cola and replace, among other things, the awful corn syrup with real sugar.
- agotfredsen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0We still have sugar in ours here in Europe :)
MrSarcasm, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5If you knew what closed-cola is made from... maybe you wouldn't drink it?
theonewolf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2The GPL can not and was not designed to be extended to everything in life. As the posters above me have mentioned, you can not and should not be able to copyright facts. Licensing a recipe just doesn't make sense. Here is the official US Copyright Office's stance:

"Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds or prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However, where a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection."

Read more here: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html
- crispee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The Coca-cola recipe is a trade secret, if they patented the process of making coca-cola then anyone could do it after 7 (?) years. Trade secrets must be kept just that, and unlike trademarks and copyrights, are indefensible if they get out. (at least from what I remember about such matters, IANAL).
- fatdog789, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You can't patent a recipe...just like the OP pointed out.
  
  That's why Pepsi and Dr. Pepper aren't patented either.
  
  However, you can *copyright* a recipe...but only that specific presentation/ordering/layout of the recipe; the facts within the recipe are unprotected.
JustinPhilip, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2This can show just how bad cola is for you. Look at some of the ingredients. If you have to wear gloves to handle it then why would you want to drink it?
- Tourney3p0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, I know. I actually heard a story a few weeks ago about a woman who drank a lot of water so she could win a Wii, and she DIED!
  
  I can't believe people are still drinking water. It's a real eye opener.
nucleocide, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I actually drank some of this stuff at the last Penguicon. It wasn't half bad.
isny, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Free as in cola.
gabeman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I've actually met a couple of people who worked at OpenCola, one of them being Cory Doctorow, and another one is a good friend of mine, Joey "Accordion Guy" deVilla.
cabazorro, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I bet it taste like soylen cola. Which varies from person to person.
Party On! Slurm!
Jozer99, on 10/12/2007, -3/+29New in OpenCola 0.1.0 stable:

Features:
- Now has almost 15% of the Coca Cola Flavor API (CCAPI) implemented!
- Fixed random instant hideous death error when users drank OpenCola during daylight savings time.
- Now runs Apache natively
- Can must still be opened by command line, GUI set to be implemented in v0.5.0.
- Code audit now set to be complete by 10/1/2011.
- doctechnical, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1"- Can must still be opened by command line, GUI set to be implemented in v0.5.0."
  
  Poor kitty.
  
  cat: can't open cola in cans
johnnywest, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1if it tastes like pepsi, shoot me now
bquigly, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It's a little un-nerving to see most of the ingredients listed as toxic, or shouldn't touch the skin or eyes. Good thing it's made to be ingested; I'm sure that won't be bad for you at all.
- crispee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It's all about concentrations. By the time you injest this recipe, the ingredients are very dilute and certainly less damaging than your own stomach acid.
dknighton, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Since when did we start using the term "open source" to replace "recipe". Just because Betty Crocker gives you instructions and a list of ingredients for Twice-Baked Potatoes doesn't mean potatoes are now "open source".

Where the ***** is George Carlin when we need him? He understands this ***** better than anyone.
Fidodo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1My grandmother used to make the best homemade coca-cola. Her secret ingredient was cyanide.
- Jassman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Digg made me reply to the wrong one. Digg me down.
  *Hell, why can't they implement a delete comment option yet?
flarn2006, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Open source is for more than just software now.
nibble4bits, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Success?

...the company’s senior strategist, attributed its success...

...Sadly, the company is now dead...

That's a funny definition of success. Sounds more like a "fad" to me.
Informativo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1 I can’t drink the regular colas. They use corn syrup for sweetening, since it’s cheaper than sugar. I have to drink the unsweetened colas, which don’t taste very good. I’d like to try the open cola recipe, but it sure is complicated.
Wonderkind, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I think if you want it to taste like real Coke, you have to add a little piss.
Performance, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3who the ***** wants to make their own coke? What a stupid idea.
semiotix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Open source recipes, I love it! I can't wait to rub this in the face of all the proprietary-recipe-using corporatist dinosaurs. You hear me, Mom? Your days are numbered, bitch!
synthsrkl, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1In Soviet Russia, cola drinks you
crispee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I wonder how long till this project forks over a distasteful dispute.
diggadong, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2mmm, Home-made coke... sounds tasty.

I'm looking forward to open source dentistry so i can start pulling my own teeth out when this ***** rots them.
- edm1950, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1uh it's called a doorknob and a string.
- broomett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You could..you know...BRUSH them, and otehrwise take care of them.
  
  People with good dental hygiene can drink all the soda they want without getting any additional cavities
- diggadong, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Brushing your teeth doesn't protect against the effects of soda. Soda remove the enamel from the teeth, No amount of brushing puts it back.
fernandooneda, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1OpenCola is good project.

Http://blog.fenon.com.br
edm1950, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What the world really needs is an Open Source recipe for Gelli Baff. A kiddie pool fulla that stuff and a lost weekend with the ol' lady would be fun.
videoCT, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I had no idea caffiene was so dangerous
- badbox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1It's not.
roberto_deneero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Bury for being stupid. What's next, Open Source Porn?
Jassman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well, they could add one thing we do know about Coca Cola's former recipe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-cola
"Coca-Cola did once contain an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per glass but after 1903 Coca-Cola started using, instead of fresh leaves, "spent" leaves - the leftovers of the cocaine-extraction process with cocaine trace levels left over at a molecular level.[5][6] However, as cocaine is one of numerous alkaloids present in the coca leaf, it was nevertheless present in the drink. Today, the flavoring is still done with kola nuts and the "spent" coca leaf. In the United States, there is only one plant in New Jersey authorized by the Federal Government to grow the coca plant for Coca-Cola syrup manufacture."
fatdog789, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I would be tempted to Digg this if it didn't show up every damn week.
amphet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Here I am using my open-source software, drinking an open-source cola, If only I could find an open-source woman my life would be completed.
- Achilles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Ahhh Open Source.....Everything is open to everybody.......no one owns anything.....it's all just there....waiting to be expanded upon.........and no one reaps any benefits........because benefits are a part of a closed diplomacy.................no need for material exchange.........it's everyone's business.....except yours. MMMMMM.....frivolous sacrifice, submission, and ambiguity.
  
  All we need now is an Open Currency, along with Open Women.
- repruhsent, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Get a life. Please.
XxjdxX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Whitney Houston will try her grandma's recipe which includes a specified amount of Cocaine, just like the old Coca Cola
mbhp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1This is one of those stories that you digg simply for the idea... love it! digg+++
- repruhsent, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1No, this is one of those stories you bury because people need to get a life (see my last post).
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OpenCola - Open Source Coca Cola

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