Trillian Astra

[Thorin]

So I finally took the leap and installed Trillian Astra, the latest version.  So far I have Skype contacts, Google Talk contacts, Windows Live Messenger contacts, and Facebook connected.  Actually, Facebook isn't connected because I can't remember my password right now.

It installed easy and setup was pretty simple, too.  As a power user I've been poking through the options and my general impression is that it allows a bit of look-and-feel customization without overwhelming.

The following types of accounts are supported:

• Windows Live Messenger
• Jabber/XMPP/Google Talk
• Facebook
• Skype (still requires Skype to be running in Silent mode, though)
• POP3/IMAP (to tell you when you have new mail)
• AOL Instant Messenger
• Bonjour
• ICQ
• IRC
• MySpaceIM
• Twitter
• Yahoo! Messenger
• Trillian IM

To set up, I had to make a Trillian Astra account (which creates a Trillian IM account).  That'd be my only beef.

[Lazybones]

I used to use trillian a lot, even developed a plugin for it a long time ago... I use Digsby (Windows) / Adium (Mac) / BeeJive (iPhone) these days, Trillian Astra has been in development for over 4 years now I believe.

If they get their Mac and iPhone clients complete I might have to check it out for the cross platform support.

[Melbosa]

Hmm, haven't had any crashes with Trillian yet.  And it's been on my work machine for several months.  Mind you, I'm using Trillian Astra, and have read reports of crashes in older versions.

How is Pidgin treatin' ya?

Pidgin works fantastically for me... and lighter weight than Trillian IMO.  I was on Trillian Astra for a while... and it was the one crashing...

FYI about Pidgin is that it stores all your account passwords in plain text locally.

Did not know that but meh... I type my passwords into my computer lots, so if someone needs to get a hold of them, you just need a key logger installed anyway.

Here is the Pidgin rebuttal (for lack of a better term) on the subject: http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/PlainTextPasswords - Trillian is listed, but I don't know if Trillian and Trillian Astra are the same in this article, nor do I know when this article was written.

[Lazybones]

I am aware of Pidgins stance on it...

[Melbosa]

Sorry wasn't directed at you or a shot... was just an informational post for everyone if they are curious.  I, myself, was not aware of the issue, nor the Pidgin stance.  So after reading it I adding it to my post.