Trillian For Mac Coming [Archive]

mkrishnan

Oct 5, 2007, 08:29 PM

Exciting! I generally prefer Adium to Trillian, but Trillian has some nice features. In particular, the Trillian folk are sitting on workaround code (as mentioned) for doing webcam and voice on the major networks, which the GAIM/Pidgin people do not have, and which therefore the Adium team also does not have. There are a couple other features I like, like the mouse-over Wikipedia summaries of words.

But just in general, I don't see Proteus or Fire or other OS X IM programs as major competitors to keep team ducky innovating, so I think Trillian is certainly welcome to the fray. :)

MacRumors

Oct 5, 2007, 09:25 PM

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Cerulean Studios, maker of popular windows AIM client Trillian, has announced that it is developing a Mac version of Trillian (http://blog.ceruleanstudios.com/?p=205).

Though this first alpha build of the OS X version of Trillian is still very preliminary and minimal - the functionality pulled through is about the same as the Flash-based web version - the code for every single feature on the Windows version is there in the underlying mediums. As the UI is expanded, those features will become available. The OS X version will be playing catch-up to the Windows one for a while yet, however.

The developer warns that the Mac OS X version is on a completely different release cycle than the Windows version, so non-simultaneous releases of Windows and Mac versions are likely.

The alpha build is available for users who have already set up Astra accounts and contact lists under the Windows version of Trillian.

http://images.macrumors.com/article/2007/10/05/mac-build1_400.png

Article Link (http://www.macrumors.com/2007/10/05/trillian-for-mac-coming/)

richard4339

Oct 5, 2007, 09:27 PM

I've been testing the Windows version of Astra for awhile now. I can't wait to get the Mac invite though! I've been waiting for this for ages!

czeluff

Oct 5, 2007, 09:44 PM

Since the article clearly states that the Mac version will be behind the Windows version for some time, i'll gladly stick with "the duck".

cz

GSMiller

Oct 5, 2007, 09:44 PM

Niiiiice. I've wanted Trillian on OS X for a long time. Adium just doesn't cut it for me.

yoyo5280

Oct 5, 2007, 09:47 PM

web cam support? im there! wait, its only AIM?

I want the duck or adium now!

DrMoray

Oct 5, 2007, 09:54 PM

I love it. I used Trillian for a long time on Windows back in the day. I'm sure it's improved a lot since then.

I've always loved the name and its reference.

But Adium rocks. I'm sure voice and web cam support would be nice, if Trillian has them. But Adium may have them by that time as well.

Bear

Oct 5, 2007, 10:54 PM

After what I've seen Trillian do to friends windows boxes, I do not believe I am even tempted to try the Mac version.

ITASOR

Oct 5, 2007, 11:01 PM

After what I've seen Trillian do to friends windows boxes, I do not believe I am even tempted to try the Mac version.

I'm not a big fan of Trillian, but I highly doubt Trillian caused any problems to your friends PCs. What could it possibly have done?

DaBrain

Oct 5, 2007, 11:17 PM

web cam support? im there! wait, its only AIM?

I want the duck or adium now!

I purchased Trillian several years ago, but I would not again. Their support sux! Everytime MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AOL make changes you have to wait till they come out with some halfass update that doesn't function, like video and audio.

I'll stick with adium, iChat and Skype as they do the job and do it well!

I for one won't get burnt again from Trillian and all their promises! Or get nickled and dimed to death everytime they make a minor upgrade and yet stuff still doesn't work. No Thanks! Just my experiance with them for a few years. To each their own! :D

LastZion

Oct 5, 2007, 11:34 PM

Super super exciting.
Can't wait. I am in "like" with Adium and aMSN but neither one alone is completely satisfying. I can't wait for this!

Eidorian

Oct 5, 2007, 11:36 PM

I want to see if it's up to par with Adium X. It's tolerable in Windows but I just love using Adium in OS X.

Me1000

Oct 6, 2007, 12:15 AM

Why is this a page 2 rumor,

It is pretty much confirmed now!

mrkramer

Oct 6, 2007, 12:22 AM

Why is this a page 2 rumor,

It is pretty much confirmed now!

It's on because it is news. and it is on page 2 because it is not something that everyone will be interested in.

pavelbure

Oct 6, 2007, 12:36 AM

Why is this a page 2 rumor,

It is pretty much confirmed now!

it does not involve the iphone or ipod. much like software and hardware updates make page 2, unless, again, it is the ipod or iphone.

katanna

Oct 6, 2007, 12:52 AM

The only reason I would consider it would be audio/video, but I never use that anyway, so I am sticking with Adium.

Lets just hope Adium can add voice/video soon (they have been kicking it around for a while now).

Matthew

phillipjfry

Oct 6, 2007, 01:12 AM

I hope it will have some good support for audio/video
I'm still waiting on my ability to communicate with users who can do conference calls through MSN messenger

My cousin isn't coming back from Iraq anytime soon :(

QuarterSwede

Oct 6, 2007, 01:24 AM

After what I've seen Trillian do to friends windows boxes, I do not believe I am even tempted to try the Mac version.
Amen! It would totally hose my wife's computer. When it was running it would literally take the PC 5 minutes to boot JUST because of Trillian. When it wasn't added to startup the computer only took 1 minute. That and it would generally slow the computer down. No good piece of trash software in my opinion.

Adium does everything I need in an IM client and when I want video I use iChat which kills anything else in that area. Good thing I don't talk to anyone on MSN. :D

Quillz

Oct 6, 2007, 02:11 AM

Who needs Trillian when there's Adium? The latter is open source, extremely popular and does everything Trillian does.

Markleshark

Oct 6, 2007, 04:04 AM

Who needs Trillian when there's Adium? The latter is open source, extremely popular and does everything Trillian does.

Apart from support IRC, which the Adium Dev team are far too stubborn to include.

That and the AV stuff, but I know thats not the Adium Devs fault.

Bear

Oct 6, 2007, 08:10 AM

I'm not a big fan of Trillian, but I highly doubt Trillian caused any problems to your friends PCs. What could it possibly have done?On a couple of systems it blew away a bunch of the registry settings for sound. On other sytsems, it's caused other corruption.

This all probably happened with older versions, however, it left a bad taste in the mouths of several people.

Taylor C

Oct 6, 2007, 09:21 AM

Adium <3.

Am3822

Oct 6, 2007, 10:19 AM

I used trillian 3.x for a while on my windows machine, and I'd been less than impressed with it at the time (resource hungry, pointless transparency effects etc.). Adium's lack of AV support is a drawback, but I'd still stick with it.

Still, it's good to see developers acknowledging the existence of the OS X market.

papadopolis1024

Oct 6, 2007, 10:50 AM

I will keep adium...

sparkleytone

Oct 6, 2007, 11:04 AM

Apart from support IRC, which the Adium Dev team are far too stubborn to include.

IRC is not IM. Adium is an IM application. Supporting IRC brings all kinds of terrible UI issues to deal with, since Adium has been designed to do IM well.

Ludde

Oct 6, 2007, 12:03 PM

When I tried Trillian a long time ago it sucked tremendously. I realize it might be better now, but I can't say I'm the least interested. I got what I need in Adium, Skype and the newly released beta for the Korean NateOn IM-service.

psychofreak

Oct 6, 2007, 12:04 PM

kcmac

Oct 6, 2007, 12:22 PM

Without video, Adium is just not usuable. How long can they just keep saying we are working on it?

Come on Trillian!

mkrishnan

Oct 6, 2007, 12:27 PM

Without video, Adium is just not usuable. How long can they just keep saying we are working on it?

Are you trying to be a troll? The Adium team has clearly explained this issue. Adium is reliant on the GAIM/Pidgin/libpurple project for IM protocol functionality. It has always been a development project to build an OS X interface on top of that project. They have always been more than clear about this (http://trac.adiumx.com/wiki/VoiceAndVideo). They have never just said, "We are working on it."

iJawn108

Oct 6, 2007, 01:34 PM

I'll stick with adium, iChat and Skype as they do the job and do it well!

kwood

Oct 6, 2007, 02:17 PM

I really like using Adium but as far as I know it does not support off-line messages from MSN. I am using 1.1.3 which does incorporate the new Libpurple 2.2.1 release but still no off-line messages. Thus I am plagued with aMSN which is fickle and slow.

sigh.... one day.

QuarterSwede

Oct 6, 2007, 02:37 PM

I'll stick with adium, iChat and Skype as they do the job and do it well!
I'll stick with adium, iChat and Skype as they do the job and do it well!
Is there an echo in here? ;)

twoodcc

Oct 6, 2007, 03:19 PM

i probably won't use it, but still good news for mac users

Markleshark

Oct 6, 2007, 04:14 PM

IRC is not IM. Adium is an IM application. Supporting IRC brings all kinds of terrible UI issues to deal with, since Adium has been designed to do IM well.

What difference does it make to include it though?

UI issues? They're developers, UI issues should be a walk in the park. Too me, that screams stubbornness.

coolbreeze

Oct 6, 2007, 10:07 PM

If it has default support for video-chat, Adium will be in trouble (at least I will be switching). It is super annoying to have a built-in iSight and not be able to use it (aside from iChat/AOL).

I'm sure someone will figure it out one day. :rolleyes:

bluefiberoptics

Oct 7, 2007, 01:31 AM

I really don't care about Trillian these days, but it is great to see a popular Windows application being ported to OS X.

Steve Jobs=God

Oct 7, 2007, 08:12 AM

psychofreak

Oct 7, 2007, 08:14 AM

Considering none of the other IM's for mac (not including iChat, nobody in the UK has AIM) offer AV support, i'm surprised MS hasn't jumped the line and developed a version of messenger for the mac that supports video chat, would piss off apple to have everyone using a MS IM app

Mercury (http://download.mercury.to/1.9/1.9RC7b.zip) supports video on MSN :)

As does aMSN, but I prefer Mercury's latest beta...

Sam0r

Oct 7, 2007, 10:48 AM

Mercury (http://download.mercury.to/1.9/1.9RC7b.zip) supports video on MSN :)

As does aMSN, but I prefer Mercury's latest beta...

And they're both awful.

Ones written in java (!??!) and the other is written in TCL (WHY?!)

IMO Adium is the best third party client, but still, half of the 'features' don't work properly, custom emoticons is a complete joke, the support is next to none-existant and the file transfer feature might as well not be there.

There is no decent third party IM client for the mac, period. If Trillian can give me all the features of the Mac MSN client, do AV and be able to send/receive files at a decent speed then I'll be the first in line to buy it.

iChat is great, but for gods sake either release a windows port or add full support for MSN and Yahoo.

Speaking of Yahoo, their client is possibly the best IM client I've ever used on the mac. But still, I know no one that actually uses it.

mkrishnan

Oct 7, 2007, 11:06 AM

Mercury (http://download.mercury.to/1.9/1.9RC7b.zip) supports video on MSN :)

What does "supports video" mean in the 1.9 release candidates? Does it still mean webcam only and "receive-only" AV or does bidirectional AV now work? It seems they now put their release summaries in their forum, and they don't allow you to access the forum unless you register. I'm not signing up for their forum just so I can see what their latest version does.... :rolleyes:

sparkleytone

Oct 7, 2007, 02:39 PM

What difference does it make to include it though?

UI issues? They're developers, UI issues should be a walk in the park. Too me, that screams stubbornness.

When you're having to account for a completely different paradigm of communication, the UI issues are non-trivial to say the least.

Your argument makes zero sense. Developers generally suck at UI. Hence, Linux.

Darkroom

Oct 7, 2007, 05:38 PM

trilliwhat? it's all about iChat AV with Jabber Transports... and i'm sorry, Audium is just ugly...

psychofreak

Oct 7, 2007, 05:42 PM

trilliwhat? it's all about iChat AV with Jabber Transports... and i'm sorry, Audium is just ugly...

Adium is ugly without skins...it can look just like iChat if you want, personally I have it like this on autohide on the right side of my desktop, it lays above all other windows when my mouse hovers there, and resizes depending on how many people are online :)

http://myskitch.com/psychofreak/adium-20071007-224145.jpg

Diatribe

Oct 7, 2007, 06:01 PM

Apart from support IRC, which the Adium Dev team are far too stubborn to include.

That and the AV stuff, but I know thats not the Adium Devs fault.

IRC is coming in 1.3

mkrishnan

Oct 7, 2007, 06:03 PM

IRC is coming in 1.3

Actually, I believe it's 1.4 now (http://trac.adiumx.com/ticket/231).

Diatribe

Oct 7, 2007, 07:09 PM

Actually, I believe it's 1.4 now (http://trac.adiumx.com/ticket/231).

Yeah that's what I meant to write, thanks for pointing it out. :)

MBHockey

Oct 7, 2007, 09:09 PM

It's good news for Macs in general, but does anyone else think that UI looks absolutely hideous? Adium is so clean and crisp I don't think I could ever leave it.

06m1r3m86

Oct 7, 2007, 11:56 PM

I love Adium and all, but I really do want to be able to use the webcam on my iMac without having to change programs and go into iChat. So the only thing that could keep me with Adium would be if the were to put video-chat support in.

Merlyn3D

Oct 8, 2007, 02:48 AM

It's good news for Macs in general, but does anyone else think that UI looks absolutely hideous? Adium is so clean and crisp I don't think I could ever leave it.

It's to be consistent with the windows and flash versions, however it's only build 1. They'll refine it. Plus, remember, the skinnability of Trillian is excellent since it uses XML based skins. You can bet that it will be as skinnable if not more so than the duck.

Markleshark

Oct 8, 2007, 05:28 AM

Yeah that's what I meant to write, thanks for pointing it out. :)

Thats good to know, taken them long enough.

MBHockey

Oct 8, 2007, 09:03 AM

It's to be consistent with the windows and flash versions, however it's only build 1. They'll refine it. Plus, remember, the skinnability of Trillian is excellent since it uses XML based skins. You can bet that it will be as skinnable if not more so than the duck.

That is true...It has been several years since I used Trillian. I forgot about the skins. I used it before this whole Astra thing.

product26

Oct 8, 2007, 12:10 PM

is it just me or is the window in the screenshot a complete waste of space? shouldn't they try to make it a little more compact? look at all the dead area. these types of windows are supposed to float and not interfere.

arkmannj

Oct 8, 2007, 12:54 PM

Will be interesting to try, but right now the only contender to Adium for me will be the new iChat in Leopard.

Xavier

Oct 8, 2007, 02:01 PM

Until it is on par with the windows version, there really is no reason. This is just like msn on the mac.

Go Adium!

MikeTheC

Oct 8, 2007, 03:35 PM

I frankly don't want to set up on yet another network. Adium is plenty fine for me. The only thing it lacks -- and this is hardly a handicap for me -- is webcam support. However, most of the people I know don't have webcams, so honestly it's kind of a moot point.

Steve Jobs=God

Oct 8, 2007, 03:45 PM

Yeah same with me Mike i have to admit, barely anyone i know has a webcam, but then when i tell everyone i got a MBP, everytime they respond with "the one with the built in webcam?! slap it on then!" (especially if it's a lovely lady, but we're leave that there ;)) and i have to try and explain why it doesn't work, would just be nice to have the option there, hassle free,

Like i said in a previous post, barely anyone here in the UK uses AIM or Yahoo so iChat and Yahoo IM which are the only above decent AV IM's, are made useless, and the only person i know with iChat is my ex, and i'd rather not talk to her in text, let alone AV!!! :D

qrayg

Oct 8, 2007, 05:00 PM

Considering that Trillian is the worst multi-IM client on Windows, this news isn't that great. Miranda is far superior than Trillian.

Regardless, Adium is incredible and I doubt anything will surpass it.

I wonder why they would even port this bloated client over to OS X.

Data

Oct 8, 2007, 07:16 PM

The fact that a lot of people, i'm in holland, here it's like everybody i know ,uses msn messenger with cam support, seems to be something the companies in the US don't seem to care about one bit. From MS point of view i can understant it a little bit atleast, because that is still a reason for people not to get a mac but a windows machine.From apple's point of view ...you tell me.

Pitty .

bbleecker

Oct 9, 2007, 11:45 AM

My guess is sometime in 2009. They working on the Windows version for close to 2+ years. Its still in a closed Alpha.

They are a joke:eek:

http://blog.ceruleanstudios.com/?p=205

This is so exciting!

tbealmear

Oct 9, 2007, 12:08 PM

Trillian was nice, if it worked the way it was supposed too. Ill stick with Adium unless Trillian is just super spectacular.

psxndc

Oct 10, 2007, 06:32 AM

My guess is sometime in 2009. They working on the Windows version for close to 2+ years. Its still in a closed Alpha.

They are a joke:eek:

Yeah, my response is "too little, too late." I wanted an OS X version of Trillian years ago before adium really took hold and the message I got on the forums was "ummm, no. We rely too much on windows APIs, so it'll be too hard."

At the time, Fire, Adium, and Proteus all kinda sucked. Since then I've seen adium actively updated and Trillian go from version 3.0 to a paltry 3.1 with no visible functional difference, and that was just within the last year. Astra has been vaporware until recently.

I've poked the closed alpha - it's better than Trillian 3.x, but I'm sort of "meh" as far as seeing it on the Mac.

And for the record, I paid for Trillian Pro because at the time it WAS light years ahead of anything else. Maybe Astra dev sucked all the developers time away, but the actual product that was there stagnated.

LazarX

Oct 11, 2007, 08:35 AM

Trillian experiences have varied widely, I used it on one box with no problems, although the overhead made me go back to AIM. A friend of mine had a major meltdown when he installed it. I believe he wound up wiping his box.

But then again, it may be that an OS X version of Trillian might not share the same problems since OS X doesn't use a registry file. and the program would have to be built a lot different than the Windows version.

Course It might have problems all it's own. :)

donnner

Oct 11, 2007, 01:40 PM

I really don't get why people think adium is so great, it looks good and that's about it. The feature list is pathetic and blaming everything on some ancient/stale linux library is a poor bloody excuse.

go trillian!

andy721

Oct 11, 2007, 02:09 PM

Doesn't look to impressive also, the windows version is so buggy, wonder how it would react to the new Mac OS. We can only wait..... Not!:eek:

KingofAwesome

Oct 12, 2007, 12:06 PM

What difference does it make to include it though?

UI issues? They're developers, UI issues should be a walk in the park. Too me, that screams stubbornness.

What difference does it make to include an IRC client in an app? I think plenty. You seem to have never developed software - which isn't a bad thing in itself, but does give you any credibility talking about what developers should be able to do easily.

Likewise with the "walk in the park" of creating UIs. Did you realize that a good UI actually requires a decent chunk of work performed by someone skilled in that field? That's why people who do that kind of thing get paid money.

Pigumon

Oct 15, 2007, 04:43 AM

Adium is ugly without skins...it can look just like iChat if you want, personally I have it like this on autohide on the right side of my desktop, it lays above all other windows when my mouse hovers there, and resizes depending on how many people are online :)

http://myskitch.com/psychofreak/adium-20071007-224145.jpg

I too LOVE adium skinned to my liking, I also have it on autohide which is GREAT!! But how did you get it to resize?

Ichat is just weak... i switched to adium years ago just for the tabbed browsing and the ability to have every buddy in one list, one window.

But adium has a lot of drawbacks... the whole usually never file transfer and no AV is really what would make me switch to trillian if it has AV support.

Sorry Adium.... I'm guessing a switch will be in my future (once trill catches up).

Wow no loyalty anymore :o

Brianstorm91

Oct 20, 2007, 12:15 PM

I'd never seen this before but it looks really rather nice, much nicer than aMSN anyway.
Is it up and running yet?
:)

psychofreak

Oct 20, 2007, 12:21 PM

I too LOVE adium skinned to my liking, I also have it on autohide which is GREAT!! But how did you get it to resize?

Ichat is just weak... i switched to adium years ago just for the tabbed browsing and the ability to have every buddy in one list, one window.

But adium has a lot of drawbacks... the whole usually never file transfer and no AV is really what would make me switch to trillian if it has AV support.

Adium preferences:

http://myskitch.com/psychofreak/picture_1-20071020-172001.jpg

Chax (http://www.ksuther.com/chax/) gives many options in iChat, including tabbed chats :)

I use Mercury when I need video for MSN (download link (http://mercury.group1fo.com/Mercury_1_9_RC11.dmg.zip))

GFLPraxis

Oct 20, 2007, 01:24 PM

Very cool. Adium crashes on me too often.

Cloudane

Oct 22, 2007, 05:55 AM

Ooh. This has a lot of potential. Could this finally be a decent MSN client for the Mac?

I mean we have the official one (half arsed), aMSN (sluggish and buggy), Mercury (Java - sluggish) and the likes of Adium which rely on the horrendously slowly-developed GAIM libraries which haven't even found their way to the 21st century yet (no MSN Personal Messages? Come on.. these have been out for YEARS and every other MSN clone has managed it? At this rate, Duke Nukem Forever or even the new phpBB will be done quicker)

Good move Cerulian, give Mac-IM support the kick up the backside it needs :D

Brianstorm91

Oct 22, 2007, 09:58 AM

CANEHDN

Oct 22, 2007, 11:54 PM

That UI is slick. I'm very interested. I may have to use that once it's available with a stable release. I like hearing that they swore they would never release an OS X version and admit they were wrong.

zoran

Jan 9, 2008, 03:10 AM

is there a trillian version for the Mac out yet? Cant seem to locate it on their website! :confused:

aaronw1986

Jan 9, 2008, 03:47 AM

is there a trillian version for the Mac out yet? Cant seem to locate it on their website! :confused:

Not yet, it's still in testing.

someone28624

Jan 9, 2008, 07:28 AM

Trillian was my favorite on Windows. I was disappointed when there wasn't a Mac version. I'm happy with Adium, but glad to s e Trillian will be a choice now too.

maxrobertson

Jan 13, 2008, 04:41 PM

Man am I looking forward to having that crappy Windows app pollute my Mac's hard drive. Wait, I can just use the infinitely superior Adium, so why are they even bothering?

Chef Medeski

Jan 13, 2008, 04:52 PM

I am loving Adium, and use the latest Mercury Messenger beta when I need video...I'm more concerned about a final Mercury1.9 than Trillian...as these are non-commercial apps, I doubt saturation of the market will spur on development...
Yeah Mercury is nice, except it looks like a POS 95 Windows app.

Good point on the saturation. While it may not spur development, it does increase choice, which is always good.

Mindflux

Jan 13, 2008, 04:56 PM

Actually, I believe it's 1.4 now (http://trac.adiumx.com/ticket/231).

Why are they bothering with this when they can't even get IM privacy sorted out? every time I re-launch adium it resets my privacy settings, so I get spammed by ICQ spammers until I remember to reset it.

This is already in their bugtraq, but it never gets fixed.

Chef Medeski

Jan 13, 2008, 04:59 PM

And they're both awful.

Ones written in java (!??!) and the other is written in TCL (WHY?!)

IMO Adium is the best third party client, but still, half of the 'features' don't work properly, custom emoticons is a complete joke, the support is next to none-existant and the file transfer feature might as well not be there.

There is no decent third party IM client for the mac, period. If Trillian can give me all the features of the Mac MSN client, do AV and be able to send/receive files at a decent speed then I'll be the first in line to buy it.

iChat is great, but for gods sake either release a windows port or add full support for MSN and Yahoo.

Speaking of Yahoo, their client is possibly the best IM client I've ever used on the mac. But still, I know no one that actually uses it.
I think there might be a certain little reason Windows would not want to see MSN support on iChat.

Cassie

Jan 13, 2008, 05:29 PM

it does not involve the iphone or ipod. much like software and hardware updates make page 2, unless, again, it is the ipod or iphone.

Macs make the front page too, you know.

I enjoyed Trillian when I was on Windows, so I will definitely give it a try.