Author Topic: Please Read: YTK Enhanced's Development Status & More...  (Read 811 times)

0 Members and 0 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline Adam X

  • Developer
  • Administrator
  • 1337
  • Posts: I am a geek!!
  • "I can hit a target through a telescope!"
  • Location: Ohio
Please Read: YTK Enhanced's Development Status & More...
« on: December 22, 2011, 09:16:03 am »
Brock and I are still alive and have been working on our own individual projects, most of which are unrelated to Yahoo! Chat completely. That said... YTK Enhanced will continue to be developed, regardless of any rumors, and we will still be supporting the newest Yahoo! Messenger versions and builds as usual. Currently, YTK Enhanced, despite the most recent build of age having been released many months ago, is estimated to already be 95% compatible with Yahoo! Messenger 11.5 build 152 (most current at this time). The couple items that aren't will be updated to complete full compatibility (ie. YMSGv19 added to Auto-Reconnect, our own extended smiley support being removed and Yahoo!'s own being added to the chat room etc). From the small things to the large and the issues in between, they'll be handled in future builds, one at a time, rather than altogether in parallel. This also includes our own authoritative implementation (being the initial discoverer) of the long awaited Dual-Mode anti-boot feature which is now completely finished, working perfectly, and awaiting the final step of integration into YTK's core. Some important decisions regarding this feature in particular are still being worked out so if it isn't in the next build then it'll likely be in the following (provided that it isn't a last minute quick, small scale release to satisfy something minor). Other potential Dual-Mode-esque boot resistance functionality is presently being researched as well in case there are other viable solutions for the long term. I'm fully aware of what's changed in the Yahoo! Chat landscape, what's been added, and what still needs updated and fixed in the current [public] build of YTK Enhanced. The good news is that I've identified a new anti-boot resistance aid to combat certain packet types from being used in floods to disconnect users. This functionality will work for all protocol versions, implementations, and can be easily enabled and disabled with no penalties or issues. This is something that is more of a supplemental aid in combination with a fully functional chat room resumable anti-boot system such as our Dual-Mode protection.
~
Yahoo! can, and has (many times) allowed, added, and/or then quickly taken away "features". Functionality that YTK once proudly supported and offered for protection, enhancement, and privacy. From a full-blown and perfectly operational YCHT protocol (the old java web chat used this) chat bridge back in 2005-2006 to a Chat 2.0 (DHTML web chat used this) chat bridge for seamless integration with Messenger. Both of these never even had the chance to see the light of day to the general public/customers (except to private testers), and too many  other useful things to list or dwell on. The next "big thing" will likely be another "room stick" exploit method for chat which will probably last no longer than a month, if that, when it does spread to the public (as always). Long-term solutions, if thought to be probable enough to likely stick around for the long haul, are now the main focal point of our 6+ year long commitment to keeping up with the times and chat scene progression (or lack thereof) through YTK's development. Yahoo! Chat's near-death experience continues to threaten everyone's chat lives and now Microsoft's "renewed" interest in acquiring Yahoo! Inc. are major events to consider. Too many times Brock and I have worked around the clock to offer something great just to have it exterminated by Yahoo! Inc's network engineers and their Messenger development team. As usual we'll do our best, time permitted, to continue providing you with updates that improve, fix, and otherwise add new useful features as they're tested and finalized.
~
A new business model is also being discussed concerning whether or not YTK will stay commercial software the way it is now or if it'll become freeware (sponsored for example) and bundled with legitimate third party software (which would be custom/optional to install) or whether it becomes full-fledged donation-ware. This isn't a decision we're making real soon so don't think that we've already decided, we haven't. Due to the size of the project and complexity involved in everything that it does, open-sourcing it will likely never happen. While I am a fan of open source software, making an Object Pascal (Delphi) project open source for such functionality would be a serious headache for even the most seasoned programmers. Modifying YTK's sizable amount of source code to update for future Yahoo! Chat and Messenger compatibility, for personal reasons, and/or to add or remove functionality without the knowledge, experience, and, most importantly, without the understanding of so many facets REQUIRED would be a pretty worthless endeavor. If this project wasn't so specific for enhancement, it being completely targeted at a single IM service provider and their official client and chat network server operation, then it'd be more useful to the standard developer who might want to tinker with the Yahoo! Chat network and Messenger itself (from both the client and/or server roles to all major services and facilities it offers).

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter