Filed under: Internet, Windows, Web
Trillan Astra chat client leaves beta
by Brad Linder Aug 15th 2009 at 12:00PM
Trillian Astra lets users chat with contacts on a number of services, including AOL Intant Messenger, Windows live Mesenger, Google Talk, ICQ, and Yahoo! Messenger.
It also lets you update your Facebook and Twitter status messages, which makes Trillian Astra a direct competitor to Digsby. So if you were annoyed with Digsby's heavy-handed revenue generating techniques, you might want to take a look at Trillian Astra. To Digsby's credit, the company did roll out an update that makes the "Support Digsby" section easier to spot and configure, along with a link to a Wiki entry explaining how the Digsby Research Module works.
Trillian Astra is available as a free download for Windows. Mac and iPhone versions are in the works. There's also a web client, which pits Trillian Astra against web-based chat service Meebo.
[via CNET]
I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.
Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Biomech said 1:27PM on 8-15-2009
Honestly why would anyone pick Digsby over this or something like Miranda? I've heard no stories of those two taking advantage of their users, and the software themselves are way better.
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cente_ddr said 1:28PM on 8-15-2009
Apparently you didn't see the big BUY PRO at the download link. Digsby has been 100% free for all users regardless of the advertising they opt-in to. All digsby opt-ins are optional. As for "the software - way better" - I very much disagree. Every year I keep trying out trillian and ever year I'm disappointed by the lack of usability and extra features that come standard on other messengers.
Biomech said 4:28PM on 8-15-2009
I tried out the old Trillian many times and I hated it. But I have had Astra installed for a while now and it's got some great features the others don't (video anyone?) and it actually looks good out of the box.
I'm an avid Miranda user and Trillian/Digsby will never match its level of customization and the things you can tinker with, but I would be more than willing to switch to Astra (and even pay for the Pro) and not have to deal with the crap Digsby has.
And I don't like the Digsby logo, but that's just me being a child LOL
To all his own, I guess. I just prefer something other than Digsby.
Richard said 7:21AM on 8-17-2009
I took a look at Pidgin a while back and for it to do everything that Digsby did I needed to install a tonne of plugins and then configure them all - often with little to no supporting documentation.
After I faffed around with it I did have quite a nice set up but the next time I re-installed the operating system I decided that I couldn't be bothered will wasting my time when Digsby did everything I wanted out of the box with little to no tweeks.
NyaR said 4:28PM on 8-15-2009
Hello,
My name is Alex, I like when my desktop apps look like desktop apps, not cellphones, or ipods. I like native themes, so that every program looks like it belongs on the desktop.
Additionally, I like easily customizable plugins and a low memory footprint.
I don't check my email in an instant messenger app, and I don't like to read people's status updates in an instant messenger app.
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smv_342 said 4:29PM on 8-15-2009
I agree with you...
Google Chrome: How ugly... and the themes rot.
Firefox: We want native theme support, not just native buttons...
IE8: Microsoft getting something remotely right...
Foobar2000: This is how programs should be - low memory footprint, native windows theme. If you have the right theme, foobar2000 looks great. Check out this screenshot - http://i27.tinypic.com/ngan7n.jpg
Opera also supports native skinning support (http://i27.tinypic.com/2eb8llz.jpg) but it has a high memory footprint than what is acceptable.
I think most developers don't like the Windows GUI, so they build custom skins for their apps. The majority of Mac apps have the default OSX GUI.
NyaR said 10:09PM on 8-15-2009
While Opera is an excellent browser, it simply does not offer the same amount of customization as firefox. And though Firefox does not natively support transparency, a great thing about its customization through userchrome or extensions is that you can MAKE it support windows themes!
And yes, Foobar is, by faaaaaaaaar, the best audio player available. It has so many plugins, and so many possibilities.
The same can be said about Miranda, just slap on tabsrmm and modern clist to start and you are on your way to win.
As for the reasons that devs like to build custom skins.. I believe it is about appealing to noobs and their mentality of "Ooooh, shiny, I want!!!" rather than "Is this a modular application with low memory footprint".
bigsofty said 10:10PM on 8-15-2009
IE8 you HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING! lol
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