This article is really about the open source software movement. But not only. It shows the example of a software company from Toronto, Canada which tried to explain open source software with a promotional tool, OpenCola. So what is OpenCola?
If you've been to a computer show in recent months you might have seen it: a shiny silver drink can with a ring-pull logo and the words "opencola" on the side. Inside is a fizzy drink that tastes very much like Coca-Cola. Or is it Pepsi?
There's something else written on the can, though, which sets the drink apart. It says "check out the source at opencola.com." Go to that Web address and you'll see something that's not available on Coca-Cola's website, or Pepsi's -- the recipe for cola. For the first time ever, you can make the real thing in your own home.
OpenCola is the world's first "open source" consumer product. By calling it open source, its manufacturer is saying that instructions for making it are freely available. Anybody can make the drink, and anyone can modify and improve on the recipe as long as they, too, release their recipe into the public domain.
Here is the recipe.
And here is the can, from OpenCola.com.
The author looks at other possible targets for the open source content movement, like the music industry, new online encyclopedias, or even the OpenLaw project at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.
Finally, the article itself is open source, covered by a General Public License software license does, or GPL -- often known as a "copyleft".
As a contribution to it, New Scientist and AlterNet have agreed to issue this article under a copyleft. That means you can copy it, redistribute it, reprint it in whole or in part, and generally play around with it as long as you, too, release your version under a copyleft and abide by the other terms and conditions in the licence. We also ask that you inform us of any use you make of the article, by e-mailing copyleft@newscientist.com.
Source: Graham Lawton, New Scientist and AlterNet.org, July 1, 2002
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