It’s been a long time coming but Cerulean Studios has finally released – albeit in public beta form – the next major version of its multi-protocol instant messaging client, Trillian Astra. It supports the usual IM networks (Yahoo, Google, ICQ, Windows Live, AOL, Jabber/XMPP) as well as other services like MySpace, Facebook, Skype, and Twitter, and you can even use the program to stay on top of your various email accounts.

Read the whole story

A few years back, I was using Trillian and it was a pleasure. In the meantime, I realized I simply don't need most of its features, and I switched to Pidgin. While Astra won't make me turn back to Trillian, I may give it a try, when the final version arrives (I hope there will be some free trial available).

Ditto to that. Limited IM functionality is basically all I need, these days: the ability to chat and send/receive files. =/ I've been using Pidgin for the last couple of years, but I did use Trillian in its hay day.

I'm sticking to Trillian myself (version 3 and now the 4 beta). I know Pidgin and Miranda are good and I know many users swear by them, but for me their interfaces keep lacking polish and even when extensible, I find Trillian offering just about what I need from a simple, configurable IM client out of the box.

Again, I don't use any advanced features but the overall package fits me well, even despite of the multiple delays and near abandonment of Trillian 3.

I downloaded Astra this weekend. I have been using Trillian 3.1 for a while now. Astra seems to force you to create an account (presumably with Cerulean) before you can enter the information for your chat accounts. Getting part way through this procedure I decided I really didn't like the idea of layering yet another account I have to maintain so I removed Astra and gave Pidgin a try. I think I like it better than Trillian and it seems to start a little quicker on my netbook.