Holla is an open-source Campfire alternative you can run on your own server

Campfire is a slick way for teams to communicate, collaborate, and share via the Web -- but if you're searching for a simple, free alternative, a new project called Holla is worth a look.

Holla is an open-source chat and file sharing Web app. While it lacks Campfire's more advanced features, like transcripts and voice calling, Holla still provides an elegantly simple way to assemble a group for keyboard-powered brainstorming sessions or socializing.

One of its best features is Gmail-style drag-and-drop uploading. As you can see, images that you upload are automatically displayed inline. Files of any type can be dropped in, and members of your chat can simply click to download.

Holla scales well to handheld devices, too. It felt every bit as snappy on my iPod touch as it did in my desktop browser (image after the break).

You can take developer Alex MacCaw's demo for a spin or download the code from GitHub and run it on your own server.

[via Hacker News]