Idea for the 21st Century: Online persona franchising

There are a number of people working in Open Source who have spent a lot of time developing a very distinctive and famous (or infamous) online persona. I’m thinking here of people like Theo de Raadt, Zed Shaw, Giles Bowkett, and so on. So why don’t they cash in on this brand equity with a franchising scheme?

Imagine it. Every major programming language could have its own licensed Zed Shaw. Every developer forum could have a local Giles Bowkett franchisee, giving the real Giles more time for coding. Want to get your patented algorithms inserted in open source projects? Call 1-800-DE-ICAZA. Need a rambling amusing talk to distract from your project’s lack of progress? Contact your nearest Larry Wall.