MSNCP

Description

The MSNCP is a complete client that works over the MSN net. It's a Python script and doesn't require any installation.
The client is written on Curses and takes the MSN protocol support from the Alberto Bertogli's msnlib.
The basic idea of the MSNCP is to be an easy and intuitive MMS client that could run on a ASCII console with a complete GUI.
The project is licenced under the GNU's GPL license. The msnlib has OSL 2.0 license.
All the MSNCP client was written by Sebastián Santisi.

Beta release

Beta means that the client doesn't have yet all the features that I think needs for a complete client, but I think it is fully usable. You can use the client as an alternative to the Microsoft client.

New on 0.8.0-beta release

Unicode support in NCurses was added.

Upgrading exception handling.

Some window methods rewritten.

msnlib was updated to 3.8.

Multiple fixing.

New on 0.7.1-beta release

Patched msnlib.

New on 0.7.0-beta release

Added colors.

Added transparent background support (Python >= 2.4).

Added highlight of MSN pre-defined emoticons.

Added no color option (for black and white terms, and transparent background on Python < 2.4).

Fixed bug on / commands with non ASCII chars.

Fixed bug counting lines before resizing window and changing language.

Some internal methods rewritten.

Multiple fixing (thanks to Nicolas Tempone).

New on 0.6.0-beta release

Buffering all screen refreshes.

Added 'save chat' and 'save chat as' features.

Added 'clear chat' feature.

Added about on client's help.

Some window methods rewritten.

Multiple fixing.

New on 0.5.0-beta release

Internal contactlist rewritten.

Fold and unfold contacts grouped by status.

Show contacts grouped by messenger groups.

Rewritten connection procedure, allows to abort connection.

Fixed bugs when syncing contacts from server.

Added help on client's hotkeys.

Multiple fixing.

New on 0.4.0-beta release

Added complete scroll features on chats.

Added scroll bars on all scrolleable objects.

Multiple fixing.

New on 0.3.0-beta release

Save config to msncprc file.

Added GUI on config items.

Remember language.

Multiple fixing (thanks to Rodrigo Campos and Jarlea).

New on 0.2.0-beta release

All the internal data is stored in UTF-8.

Asynchronous login.

Fixed bugs of msnlib on multichats.

Multiple fixing (thanks to Rodrigo Campos).

Things to do

As you know, the project is now on beta status; this a list of features that will be added before the first stable release:

Colors; the definitive client will have a complete ~~support for colors~~ and colormaps.

Groups; the beta client doesn't have groups support on your contacts.

Interactive Config; the stable client will have config tools on the GUI.

Unicode Internal Encoding; all the internal methods will be migrated to work on UTF-8 encoding.

Save Chat; a menu to save a chat as a file.

Profiles; the way to manage different configs on one client (on beta this is partialy supported).

Packages; the stable release will have packages to easy install on your OS.

Language Files; with your contrib, I hope that the stable release will have a lot of translations for different languages.

Scrolls; I will add all the bars and scrollings where it is necessary.

Fullscreen Mode; a mode to chat with one contact using the maximum space on your screen.

Smilies Support; ~~a simple parsing on smilies and~~ user defined smilies, to know what is text and what is media on a message.

Documentation; I will write a complete documentation and a graphic help out the client.

Your Request; be free to propose new not supported features.

This is a brief list; the beta client has a lot of points to be fixed before, like the position of the cursor on the screen or the way it shows the info. The definitive client will have other minor features like /whois over contacts or support of Hotmail messages. I have an additional list of features that are not needed now, like mouse support or support of file transfer (this is a feature to add to the msnlib).