Filed under: Internet, Windows, Commercial
Trillian Astra sneak preview
by Jordan Running Nov 21st 2006 at 6:30PM
At long last, Cerulean Studios has released some more information on Trillian Astra, the long-awaited next version of its popular multi-protocol instant messaging client. Apart from a sparse few screenshots, until now we've seen very little of Astra. Now Cerulean has put up a sneak preview site that pimps some of the features we can expect in the successor to Trillian 3.1. Here's a quick summary of what's new:Performance:
Astra improves on start-up time, redrawing time (i.e. how quickly skinned elements appear and change), and memory usage. Memory leaks have also been plugged and Cerulean is building some lightweight skins with efficient memory usage in mind.
Interoperability:
Brand new in Astra is support for MySpace IM. They've also created a separate Google Talk component (distinct from the Jabber plugin) and split the AIM and ICQ components apart. Also coming is improved file transfer compatibility, a more informative file transfer dialog, and a cool feature that zips folders on the fly for sending a bunch of files at once, and they've added support for custom MSN status messages. Under the hood, they've created an "IMCore" library that aims to make IM plugins stabler and easier to develop.
Social software:Astra comes with some features for managing all of your different accounts and making it easier for people to get ahold of you. You can now store you contracts online, allowing you to log in on a friend's computer (assuming they have Astra) and have all of your accounts and contacts load automatically. You can also "export" your contact information to contacts, kind of like an electronic business card. For better or for worse, they're also adding widgets, which can be created in Flash 9. Lastly, they're going to publish open documentation for all of this stuff so developers of other IM clients and other software can create their own features that interoperate with Astra.
Web services:
Cerulean Studios is making a big web push with Astra. Users' status for all of their accounts will be displayed on the web (optionally, obviously), but the biggest news is that Astra users will be able to login with any web browser and send and receive IMs on any of their accounts. The aforementioned widgets will also be web-enabled.
Message window:They've totally revamped the message window. It now features drag-and-drop (or copy-and-paste) image sharing, pen input for tablet PC folks or just people who like to draw with the mouse, and RSS-feed-reading "knowledge bar." There's also a "buzz" feature ported from other clients which they describe as "an incredibly annoying way to quickly get [a contact's] attention." They apologize for adding the latter feature, however, and presumably it can be disabled. Finally, Astra has a "saved font styles" feature that lets you set up predefined styles e.g. "important" or "code."
Contact list:The contact list, which I consider the most important part of any IM client, is getting a new "tile view" that shows buddy icons and names not unlike, say, the Windows desktop, a "Spotlight search" box (cue Apple lawsuit) for finding a particular contact among many, drag-and-drop avatar changing, and easy display name changing.
SkinsAstra is getting lots of skin improvements, including the ability to change skins without restarting Trillian (finally!), color schemes, alpha transparency (finally x2!), "variables and skin math," which sounds like very basic scripting, and layers.
Whew.
When I first heard about Astra and saw the first few screenshots I was afraid that it would be a disappointment, but the new preview aptly demonstrates that there's a ton of new stuff coming for loyal Trillian users. There's no word yet on whether there will be a free version of Trillian Astra, but if you thought Trillian Pro 3.x was worth shelling out for, you may very well feel the same about Astra.
According to the official Cerulean Studios blog they're going to be opening up alpha testing much earlier than we're used to from them. No download link has appeared yet, but I assure you when I know, you'll know.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
asurroca said 7:45PM on 11-21-2006
If they can pull of an answer to web 2.0 clutter as their demo movie claims, Trillian will be on top for a good while longer. The fact that the now-ancient Trillian 3.x still competes effectively is a testament to the folks at Cerulean Studios.
I like the Vista-style look, and man, if I can add in all my gazillion site accounts into Trillian (as it seems), this is going to be killer.
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Daniela Kokorovic said 11:49PM on 11-21-2006
I want to test out the new Trillian Astra. I need help:)
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Kat said 4:11AM on 11-22-2006
Is Astra going to be pro-only? (i.e. paid)
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jason said 5:39AM on 11-22-2006
ZZZzzzz
Sorry guys - this has taken too long. I'm a trillian fan & user from way way back....
but this is now old news since it's been over taken my meebo and the like. Why install a client when you can get integrated IM from a web page ??
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Maziar said 6:36AM on 11-22-2006
Thanks. nice sneak preview. I believe Jabber can also have these improvements...
I've just added a post to my weblog about this on:
Http://raizaM.BlogSpot.com
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enzo said 6:18AM on 11-22-2006
how many years has it been?
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ThwartedEfforts said 8:55AM on 11-22-2006
Hooray!
More pointless features, more annoying bloat, and more people jumping ship to slimline, freeware, open-source multi-protocol projects like Gaim and Miranda.
http://www.miranda-im.com/
http://gaim.sourceforge.net/
Like jason, I'm a Trillian user from way back but simply don't have the patience for them any more.
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Eric said 12:59PM on 11-22-2006
All of you saying you can just Meebo or even GAIM or Miranda obviously have not tried transferring files to a friend. I've used them all, Meebo is convenient for when you absolutely don't have IM software with you, but I don't like my chats being inside of another window because it's not as obvious when someone send a message. And with GAIM and variants like Adium even on OS X I have rarely been able to do a file transfer. With Trillian on the other hand, I can sign on to all of my services, and file transfers work every time.
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Khimming said 10:12PM on 11-22-2006
Trillian has sure came a long way. I remember when I first used Trillian using my uni days. By then, it didn't even support file transfer!
Now, Trillian is a much more exciting IM with all those social networking elements. I might give it another try.
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elmasoriginal said 6:06PM on 11-23-2006
http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/ap/index.php?area=interop
From the column at the right of the firefox window,on the bottom right of the trillian Astra Interoperavility webpage:
"IMCore Statistics
* IMCore compiles natively on Win32, Linux, and OSX.
* Currently, all Cerulean-developed network plugins are powered by IMCore. Which means they all compile on Linux and OSX. Which means... :) "
I guess that is an important appointment that hasn't been done.Well...you are the editors of download-squad but if i were by your side i would have put a little more enphasis on that point than you :P ;).
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Chris said 11:04AM on 11-27-2006
Has anyone heard of a release date yet?
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DanMo said 11:22PM on 12-05-2006
ThwartedEfforts, it actually has much less bloat and resource-usage than 3.1, which already is almost invisible when it comes to memory usage.
Chris, Cerulean Studios is famous for not setting deadlines. I'm hoping it comes out soon, but I would expect it sometime early next year.
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moe said 2:19PM on 12-08-2006
When is Trillian Astra scheduled for release or how can we try out the Beta. I am a 3.1 Pro user and from what I read this is going to be awesome.
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Ryan said 2:15PM on 2-01-2007
Hey,when is the trillian astra going to be released?????
Comment Back!!!
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Anmol said 12:32PM on 2-08-2007
sdfsdf
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Rentone said 4:47AM on 2-15-2007
Many people ask the release date but there is no release date! go to www.wikipedia.org and check search for Trillian Astra, on the article page they give release dates, check there all the time, you may find releases. Do not search for trillian astra on any P2P network like Gnutella, on limewire, Napster etc. for Trillian. There are rumors that you receive a Trojan Horse that can remotely control your computer with one cracked version of Trillian Astra. There is a blog on the CurcleanStudios website about the Horse, please don't download, BYE
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Henrik Johansson said 12:29PM on 2-18-2007
Does this cost any money?
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