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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 <ref>The site is long-gone, but can still be retrieved from the "Wayback Machine" https://web.archive.org/web/20010218075323/http://www.opencola.com/download/3_softdrink/formula.shtml ~~~~</ref> [[User:Freephile|greg.rundlett]] ([[User talk:Freephile|talk]]) 08:34, 6 June 2015 (EDT) 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. As a way of doing business it's rather unusual -- the Coca-Cola Company doesn't make a habit of giving away precious commercial secrets. But that's the point.