Herald is a instant messenging client that uses the MSN Messenger network. Herald is written using 100% Java code, so it should be portable across all operating environments that have a Java 2 run-time environment.
Why on Earth do we need another instant messaging client, especially one that uses the resources of that "evil" company, Microsoft? The answer is easy and boring. One of locations several of us worked for would not allow the other common instant messaging clients (i.e. ICQ or AOL) through their firewall. Messenger worked perfectly. In addition, the Messenger protocol keeps all contact list information on the server, which is a very handy feature missing from the other instant messaging systems.
Unfortunately, Microsoft's client for their own system has several undesirable limitations. The most obvious is that it only runs in the Windows platform. Additionally, several useful instant messaging features, such as file transfer, are missing from the client. And finally, there is a huge need for encrypted messages in the instant messaging world. Why not give the network a boost by adding such a compelling feature?
Details of the latest version can be found on the Herald web site http://herald.sourceforge.net.
This software is licensed under the terms you mnay find the file COPYING in this directory.
Thanks for trying Herald!
The Herald Team
<http://herald.sourceforge.net>
As of 2012-10-11, I put a copy of this source on GitHub instead of its original SourceForge CVS home. The project is still inactive, but having the source available in GitHub may prove useful for someone some day, and also reminds me what projects I worked on in the past.
In retrospect, I'm not sure I understood Java very well back in 2000.
Chad Gibbons October 11, 2012
React
Typescript
Django
Laravel
Facebook
Microsoft
Google
Alibaba
D3
Tencent