OStatic

OpenCola: Drink up!

Don't expect to see it on your store's shelves anytime soon but there's an open source soda recipe that's freely available for anyone who has the time, interest (and money) to bottle their own soft drink. OpenCola was originally created as a way to promote an open source software company of the same name. Though several hundred cans of the stuff have been sold, the soda isn't widely available largely due to manufacturing costs.

Though the cola drink makes for an interesting story, the company behind it is worth noting. Founded by Boing Boing co-editor Cory Doctorow and two friends, the team created an open source "collaboration object lookup architecture" known as COLA as a new approach to peer-to-peer networking. The company was eventually sold to the Canadian-based technology company Open Text Corporation.

Enough with the history lesson. The interesting thing about OpenCola, the drink, is that, like any good open source project, the recipe lives on even though it's no longer need as a promotional tool. Unfortunately, like so many open source projects, its a good idea that's gone dormant from lack of love. It would be neat to see it resurrected, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. If there isn't a team out there willing to fold OpenCola into their own project, can someone at least make a batch and tell me how it tastes?

• OpenCola
• soda
• drinks

by Giu Como on Jun. 04, 2009

Throw some alcohol in the mix to make it really interesting! :)

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