Trillian is the geeks choice for IM. It allows you to use a single IM client across various platforms (AIM, Hotmail MSN, Yahoo!, and GTalk – the latter if you have the Pro edition) and have multiple identities for each. It’s an essential tool for keeping the different parts of your digital world distinct from each other.
The folks at Cerulean Studios (the creators of Trillian) are busy at work with a new supped up version of their program, code name Astra. Besides the advancements in interoperability (they’re adding MySpaceIM and a plugin for Google Talk versus the Jabber protocol they’ve used to this point), they are pushing the limits in what an IM client is all about by adding Social Widgets (e.g., weather for friends’ locations), chat via the Web (somewhat similar to Meebo), and RSS updates within message windows.
I don’t have too much more info to share because the project is currently in Alpha testing. If they were smart though, they’d let me into their testing program so I can tell them what they are doing wrong ;-).
Stay tuned for the release of Trillian Astra.
