Trillian Astra Coming to OS X
Trillian Astra, the next version of the popular Windows multi-client chat application Trillian, is being developed for the Mac. Cerulean Studios, the makers of Trillian, has released a limited and experimental Mac version to approved testers of their new Astra platform. Hopefully a working version will be made available for general release someday; Astra itself as been in invite-only Alpha stage for nearly a full year now.
Testers can grab the download here and readers interested in becoming testers can go here.
Trillian on Mac is something that many people have waited for for a long time. It's an aesthetically pleasing, feature rich service with a very loyal group of users. Trillian Astra users can chat seamlessly with friends on Yahoo!, ICQ, AIM, Bonjour, Windows Live, Google Talk and MySpace IM. There's a web component of the new service, an RSS ticker and more - see a screenshot of the pared down Mac version below.
The particulars of this service as opposed to others are better experienced than they are described. Other multi-client chat tools include the open source Pidgin (formerly known as GAIM) on Windows and Adium on Mac.
See a screenshot of the current Mac build below the fold.
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Interesting news and it will be nice to see another good client on OS X. However, Cerulean is SO SLOWWWW to release updates that this fals into the "I'll believe it when I see it" category for me. I paid for the 3.0 pro version on Windows - I didn't renew because, after a year, I'd not seen any upgrade and none were on the horizon. Sad, because all I needed to reup was a reason - I like the software and the people... but without anything new in sight, I couldn't justify spending more on a client I'd already paid for.
I'm not sure what the scoop is - I loved Trillian on the PC, and would certainly try it out on the Mac, but they develop at such a slow pace that I'm not holding my breath esp since Adium does a good job.
I agree with Rick, this Astra has been "Coming Soon" since about Windows 98.
They can't even give me a beta testing invite after six months, so don't hold your breath waiting for a production Mac release.
Although the mockups on their teaser site look real nice.
We have Adium on the Mac (free, Open Source). Why would we need Trillian?
Trillian; now there's a blast from the past! I remember that from ye olde days when I used Windows. Since then, I've moved from Windows to Mac and most recently from Mac to Linux. I agree with Glen Barnes; Adium is excellent and consistently improving with frequent updates, why reinvent the wheel? It doesn't even suffer from the pig-ugly interface problem that seems to afflict many open-source packages. On the other hand, the Trillian interface presented in the skin here looks plain bizarre; brushed metal AND glossy? When did you last see glossy brushed metal?
Having said all that, I do find IM a bit naff all round these days; it was great when I was younger, but now I see it as more of an irritation than anything.
How does Cerulean plan to advance the state-of-the-art on multiplatform instant messaging on the Mac? With an RSS reader? Please...
Adium has been the pre-eminent multi-chat client for OS X for years now. Its feature set is totally evolved, significantly further than Trillian.
I'm not sure why Cerulean thinks there's an opportunity here.
I agree generally with the comments above, but I think it's a matter of taste. I know, for example, that there's some things that have changed in the latest Adium release that I really do not like. Many people may prefer the particular look and feel of Astra. A feed reader? You know, I really like the GMail webclips feature, but I don't get feeds in my Twitter client - some people mind find it real nice to have another opportunity to glance at key feeds in an IM client.
Trillian used to have a decent IRC client as well as multi-IM. Not sure if they still do, as I'm an Adium gal these days.
Integrated IRC is something that Adium doesn't offer -- but is that a feature enough people care about to give Cerulean real traction coming into the Mac world?
It's funny watching all these Adium users make these silly comments, who've obviously either never even used or seen Trillian. Comparing these two apps is pretty hilarious. Adium is a glorified GAIM skin. It barely even supports file transfers. Are you people honestly serious? Hilarious..
"Adium has been the pre-eminent multi-chat client for OS X for years now. Its feature set is totally evolved, significantly further than Trillian."
Hahahaha.. Yeah.. Considering Adium barely supports File Transfers (their own website verifies this, for both MSN and AIM protocols).
"I'm not sure why Cerulean thinks there's an opportunity here."
Gee, maybe because Adium BARELY SUPPORTS FILE TRANSFERS? What is this, 1995? hahaha
Maybe they'll code up audio/video chat... by 2025