Zoho Invites Open Source Projects to Use Zoho Discussions for Free

Zoho announced that it is inviting open source projects to use Zoho Discussions, the company’s online forums and community software, at no charge. Providing free use of its application for online customer support and innovation forums is the company’s way of giving back to the open source community. The Zoho invitation does not have an expiration date, and open source projects can take advantage of the offer by visiting http://www.zoho.com/discussions/open-source.html.

The free Zoho Discussions offer being extended to open source projects is distinct from the free version of Zoho Discussions that the company offers to individuals and organizations. For open source projects, Zoho will tailor the level of service appropriate to the project’s size and needs. In addition to support for multiple forums, moderators, gigabytes of attachments, and other features, Zoho will offer free migration and customization services on a case-by-case basis. Forum visitors will be able to participate by using their Zoho username/password as well as Google, Google Apps, and Yahoo! credentials.

One of the first open source projects to take advantage of the Zoho offer is the JavaScript library, jQuery. Not happy with its existing solution for engaging with its community, jQuery evaluated several vendor solutions before settling on Zoho Discussions to power its online forums at forum.jquery.com.

Prior to Zoho Discussions, jQuery used mailing lists and Google Groups to interact with its users. As part of its free offer, Zoho migrated all the data and users from the jQuery mailing lists and Google Groups into Zoho Discussions. Similarly, Zoho is customizing Zoho Discussions for free, giving the forums the same look and feel as the rest of the jQuery site.