Users will sign up and get several options:

• A choice of their subdomain such as mywebsite.joomla.com
• A choice of at least 2 basic sample data sets: a Basic blog style website and a Company brochure website.
• A choice of limited, pre­installed templates.
• A choice of some limited, pre­installed extensions such as, for instance, a simple photo/media gallery and a simple comment system.

Users won't have access to the database, but they will be able to export their data and media files.

There will be automatic updates for all sites on this service.

In short, this is very similar to the WordPress.com model, which is far more locked-down than the self-hosted version.

The press release only says it "is expected to be launched later this year".

As you may know, there has been a free Joomla demo site available at demo.joomla.org.

Starting in September, you'll be able to get a demo account for 90 days instead of the normal 30 days.

However, it's hard to imagine that Joomla.com will not be a better option, with free hosting available for life.

About 12 months ago, Joomla put out an RFP to build Joomla.com.

The winner was Siteground.com. (Disclosure: Siteground is a sponsor of this site)

Will there be additional commercial services?

Yes, that's to be expected.

Again, look to WordPress.com for what these commercial services might be. WordPress.com makes money by selling domain names, additional themes, storage space and more.

To find out more, it's worth reading the full RFP. Here are the criteria set down for Joomla.com:

1. A free account for life on a subdomain of joomla.com.
2. Users would get a minimum choice of 2 basic sample data sets: a. Basic blog style website b. Company brochure website.
3. Users would get a choice of limited pre­installed templates . Vendors should state how many included templates they are willing to include and if additional templates would be added over time.
4. Users would get a choice of limited pre­installed extensions such as, for instance, a simple photo/media gallery and a simple comment system. These extensions must be GPL licensed and fully maintained and updated by the vendor. It is up to the vendor to decide to develop their own solution or if they are going to use a 3rd party extension in cooperation with the developer of such extension.
5. No email services would be provided.
6. No user backups will be allowed. Users cannot move their website to another host due to the limited nature of the installation. But vendors should define how backups of the servers will be handled.
7. Although backups are not allowed the vendor should allow the exporting of data such as article content, users, and images.
8. The vendor should define their plan for potentially supporting the installation of additional 3rd party Joomla! extensions or to not allow it at all.
9. User will not have direct access to the database.
10. A simple and reliable way to try out the major features of the Joomla! content management system for the Long Term Release Version of Joomla!.
11. At signup users would have their choice of languages limited to only one additional language besides the core English language package.
12. Free hosting support for the life of the account.
13. Automatic core updates server wide for minor version releases.
14. How do you plan to handle upgrades to new long term releases (such as Joomla! 3.5) when they are released? This should also include any templates or a gallery and comment extensions for example so that an upgrade is as smooth as possible. Please include how you would handle these things.
15. Best practice security precautions to protect the privacy of site users and ensure site stability.
16. Include details about the vendor’s plans to monetize this service.RE: Add supported websites, revenue share of paid upgrades, etc.