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114 Comments
- 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! - 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." - Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -3/+37WTF, it contains guarana. Beer does not contain guarana. Trendy energy drinks contain guarana.
- 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?
- 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. - 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.
- schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20No Cola for me. I'll have Vores Øl.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_beer - tidu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18"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 - InetRoadkill, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17Umm, from my understanding, food recipes can't be copyrighted. (?) How can this be issued under GPL?
- 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 *****.
- 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. - 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... - 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.
- 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. - balloonenstein, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Has anyone actually made any of this stuff before?
- slackerbox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10http://www.wikihow.com/Make-OpenCola
WikiHow.com - Saving your life one day at a time. - Kragnerac, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10But will they send it to me free like a Ubuntu CD?
- BarriedaleNick, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11but it was never about the cola - it was about promoting open source software
- inactive, 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. - TravisS, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I think making homemade root beer is probably a lot easier.
- championchap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Optional tends to mean dont do it as far as im concerned.
- 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. - 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.
- 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." - 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? - inactive, 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. - 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. - fatdog789, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I would be tempted to Digg this if it didn't show up every damn week.
- 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* - garyh84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I like to dig up roses, cut the stems off and throw the roots in my beer.
- MrSarcasm, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5If you knew what closed-cola is made from... maybe you wouldn't drink it?
- 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!
- 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 - 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. - 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." - 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!
- inactive, 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 - 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...
- retral, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I believe it was said somewhere that it takes about 6 grams of caffeine to kill you.
- 0crabby0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sarsaparilla! let's make open-source sarsaparilla!
- 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. - jackbauer007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1sweet...literally!
- edm1950, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1uh it's called a doorknob and a string.
- 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.
- SpaceDreamer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1so how does it taste ?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3who the ***** wants to make their own coke? What a stupid idea.
- roberto_deneero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Bury for being stupid. What's next, Open Source Porn?
- 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.
- Rockarollr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Eh, just give me a big glass of iced tea over cola any day!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Does some one have the Dr Pepper recipe? If so, please let me know: landemaine [at] gmail [dot] com
Thanks! ;) -
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