Dropbox makes business chat application open source

Dropbox has released the source code of Zulip, a chat application intended for use by businesses. The corresponding applications for Android, iOS and desktop operating systems have also been released. Dropbox hopes that users will then improve the software.

The necessary source code for Zulip has already been put online on a Github repository, so those interested can get started right away. There is code to set up the web server and web apps, but source code is also available for the applications already released for Android and iOS. The necessary code for apps that are suitable for the desktop operating systems Windows, Linux and Mac are also present. The whole thing has been released under an Apache license, Dropbox said in an announcement on its blog. On its website, Zulip’s developers help set up their own chat server, something primarily intended for businesses.

By making Zulip open source, Dropbox hopes that users will improve the product. A group of developers has already announced that they will start working on the source code. Dropbox probably hopes that the move to make Zulip open source will bring more users.

Dropbox acquired Zulip in 2014, at a time when it also acquired a number of other start-ups. Zulip is intended for business communication, where different chat windows can be set up and sorted by subject. This should make business communication clearer.