bbPress is a simple and easy to use forum software created by the developers of WordPress. After many months of testing in alpha, beta and release candidate stages, the final version has been released today as bbPress 1.0. The bbPress administrative interface is very similar to WordPress and feels just like home for those accustomed to WordPress. One of the best things in bbPress is the single sign-on supprt between bbPress and WordPress, which means your users will need a single account to access both your WordPress installation as well as bbPress. Here’s a screenshot of bbPress 1.0 in action below.

Here’s the feature list of bbPress from the devs:

Fast and light We keep our code lean so that you get the best experience possible.

Simple interface One of our biggest goals is to keep things simple and make things intuitive. Our dream is that you forget you’re even using the software.

Customizable templates Not everybody likes the same pair of pants, so we allow you to dress up your forums however you like.

Highly extensible bbPress can’t toast your bagels, but a plugin for it sure could!

Spam protection A bundled Akismet plugin offers you an amazing weapon against spam.

RSS Feeds You want feeds? We get ‘em; they’re everywhere.

Easy integration with your blog WordPress and bbPress are siblings, and they get along together a lot better than you and your brother did when you were kids!

The change log from 0.9 to 1.0 is as following:

“Voices” count on topics reports the number of individuals participating in a conversation

Native support for cookie integration (single sign-on) with WordPress 2.7 and 2.8

Optional support for memcached object caching

Time-zone and Daylight Savings time support

A complete XML-RPC publishing API

Pingback support – each topic can receive pingbacks, just like a blog post

All javascript has been moved to jQuery

Optionally allow login via email address as well as username

New meta API allows arbitrary meta data to be stored for posts, topics, forums, options, tags or even meta (that’s right, meta-meta – first legitimate use wins a prize)!

Display names used primarily for user identification display, which allows special characters to be used

Themes can now have a “functions.php” file, which is automatically loaded

Accessibility improvements on forms and in the default theme, including WAI-ARIA roles

Major overhaul of the admin interface

Optional Akismet statistics page

Cute new icons from Ben Dunkle (pictured above)

Improved use of posts admin to manage spam

Prettier Kakumei (default) theme

Hello Louie! Plugin

Remember to backup your data before updating from 0.9 to 1.0 and disable all plugins too. Some minor changes to templates might be needed if you do an upgrade.