MSN+XMPP in KDE Telepathy

As Xavier already wrote on his blog,

Microsoft announced that they had added XMPP to their Windows Live APIs. Microsoft announced that they had added XMPP to their Windows Live APIs. That means that any Jabber client could connect to MSN using our favorite open IM protocol! No more closed protocol to reverse-engineer.

Since Gabble now supports it, I just had to add a little bit of magic to support the Messenger OAuth2 authentication in KDE-Telepathy Auth Handler and add a profile to the Account Manager. Microsoft implementation still have some problems (you cannot add/authorize new contact, yahoo contacts are not shown, etc.), therefore by default the “old” method will be used, but we think that it is important that people starts using it, therefore starting from KDE Telepathy 0.3 (that will be released the 25th of January) you will be able to use XMPP protocol with your MSN account.

It is important to notice that you can have just one MSN-XMPP account at the moment, so here is how to add it.

First of all, you have to add a new account from System Settings > Instant Messaging and VOIP > Accounts > Add Account > Others > choose the “MSN (using XMPP)” profile and click Next

MSN (using XMPP) profile

MSN (using XMPP) profile

OAuth2 authentication is a little bit different from the normal authentication. You don’t have to set any parameter, just click “Finish” in the next tab.

Just click "Finish"...

Just click "Finish"...

Now the magic will happen and the Authorization Handler will popup with a dialog where you have to insert your Windows Live ID and your password, then click “Sign in”

Insert your Windows Live ID and your password, then click "Sign in"

Insert your Windows Live ID and your password, then click "Sign in"

Finally you will get another page where you have to authorize the application to connect, by clicking on “Yes”

Click "Yes"!!!

Click "Yes"!!!

And you should be connected.

Have a nice chat! 😀


P.S. Due to this bug, if you manage to connect the first time, but you fail later, try deleting the account and repeating those steps… [EDIT: Fixed before 0.3]

P.P.S. Thanks to Xavier for the support and the suggestions!


EDIT: MSN OAuth2 authentication requires telepathy-gabble >= 0.15.0