Want to Alpha Test Trillian 4?

On the back of the Trillian 4 Sneak Preview the guys over at Trillian central are going to open up a registration script to sign up to be an Alpha tester. They expect it to be up some time today.

Apparently the word is that they underestimated just how many people would be interested in being a tester. So to combat that they are looking for people to apply to be one based on a few factors:

• Emailed an expression of interest ages ago
• Pro customer, with an expired subscription or not
• Wrote an expression of interest that covered who you are and why you should be a tester
• Numerical rank (FIFO)

These are not finalised just mooted possible criteria.

That is the general gist in any case. It seems fair to me. Although there is no word on how many “positions” they are giving away. Your guess is as good as mine, they keep their cards close to their chest in every respect. My advice would be that if you are keen then be quick because I think they will be flooded with applications.

Despite my love of new technology and an early adopter, I will not be applying. Attractive and tempting, yes. But the probable instability of the product is a deterrent as I need a reliable service. I also don’t need the hassle of buggy software. In addition to the fact that I really don’t have the time to do it justice. But the wait is driving me a bit nuts I must admit. In addition updates seem to have stalled on the current version, which I don’t blame them for (why bother?).

I am yet to extract a possible release date. Nor have they hinted as yet.

I will post the link for the registration page when it pops up on my radar.

Update: Cerulean Studios has opened up the application page for potential beta testers.

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Sneak Preview of Trillian 4

Cerulean Studios have released a preview of Trillian Astra. This is the most that has been heard from the Trillian developers in a while and the largest release of information about the new messenger to date.

There is a nice flash movie preview to start. But the real gold is in the Trillian Sneak Peek Preview details. Here there are details covering the various new developments with the messenger client. The information is extensive and on face value we could have a killer application on our hands for messaging if they deliver half of what is promised.

The preview covers:

• Performance
• Interoperability
• Astra
• Web
• Message Window
• Contact List
• Skins

Notable items within these categories are many; if you are wanting the whole story they cover the lot over at the preview.

One of the great features that has been added is that your contact list is now managed by a server. Think the same way that Skype manages your contacts. Your contact list is downloaded every time you start Trillian. No more adding contacts every time you reinstall or rebuild your machine. This is part of a more socially based messaging client.

Trillian 4 will have better management of identities. You get your own Trillian web page. Your various identities and web pages that are associated with you are listed here. Create another blog then add the url. Get another messaging identity add it here as well. A virtual business card. Trillian Astra is becoming more than a messenger it is a central place for communication management. Your Trillian web page also gives people the ability to message you without having to use a client. Very nice. It also appears that your Trillian Web presence will incorporate widgets as well. Flickr and others are mentioned. Your status will also be shown here and updated in real time.

For all the developers out there, the Trillian protocols will be open. As is the case with the current client.

There are some new message window features that look very cool. What about image sharing with a drag and drop interface? Hand writing support for tablet PC’s. Viewing smaller versions of a contacts widgets in the chat window. RSS delivered straight to your IM client. Wow, the features are extensive and I can not wait for it to be released.

There are many more features and explanations than I have mentioned. Head over to the preview and check it out for yourself, it looks awesome. No point me repeating what they have said. These are just a few things that struck me as cool.

This is the announcement of the release of the Alpha version. However, before everyone goes off and searches for the download there is not one. It is invite only and they are looking for people to join in the testing. But the alpha is not yet fully featured, there is no support for audio or video as yet and they have warned that it will crash and be unreliable. However if this does not deter you then head over to the blog and express an interest. I can not see any other way to contact them.

As far as the final release, I think we are a long way off that. Current build is 21. They are hoping to add builds every 2-3 weeks. This is Alpha, see what I mean? It has taken the good part of 12 months to get this far. No dates mentioned but based on current performance definitely next year at the earliest and then it would not surprise me if it was mid 2007. Then if it is as good as they say I do not mind waiting.

 

Trillian 4 News

At last the Trillian boys are sick of playing Quake and have given us some news!

One feature that has long plagued Trillian users is the poor file transfer capabilities, if it even works at all. Well they are working hard on it:

Been working hard on ensuring file transfers work even better in the next release of Trillian.

I just want it to work and well at that! In addition to working on it they are incorporating a lot more technical data about the transfer in order to diagnose any problems that might occur. They also express their commitment to getting the file transfer working and 100% right.

Great to hear in my opinion and long over-due as this has been a long term bug. Although the dynamic nature of the networks that you are plugged into my be a reason for the variance in it’s reliability and therefore not the fault of Trillian. We have on occasion got the file transfer to work but only spasmodically at best.
A small bit of welcome news from the Cerulean Studios Blog. It is slow but I think it is getting there. I hope that I have reason to renew my subscription to TrillianPRO. So guys when can we expect to see it? This year?

Top 10 Search Terms, this is Weird!

It never ceases to amaze me the the ways in which people end up on my blog. Yesterday amazed me the most.

I am not sure how Google search terms match up to where it sends people but could someone tell me just how this search string got them here:

“fatal crash scenes + humans”

In fact here are the Top Ten searches that got people to Rooster’s Rail in the Last 7 Days (no particular order; some are near the top due to the “weirdness factor”!):

1. Fatal crash scenes + humans [just plain strange, weirdest yet, sicko no doubt…]
2. Trillian 4 [one of the top searches that get people here, I am quick with the new Trillian Astra News!]
3. Make your own logo [I did this post on Mikons and seems it is something people want to be able to do or need]
4. Different types of roosters [beats me… must be the “Roosters” in the title, I have never talked about roosters though, promise… never]
5. David Gray – let it be me mp3 [David Gray is also a music artist, he gives me the shits, I am sure he is a nice guy but the main reason that there are 60 million results for the name… I have no intention of going through them all.]
6. Create nasty signature [this is another strange one…???]
7. Bit rate for podcast [I have blogged a fair bit about bit rates and podcasting so this is here because it makes sense and I glad that it might help others]
8. Strange PICTURE of FROGS [I get this all the time from way back when I made a post about strange frog happenings – our house was raided by baby frogs, this is the legacy, also posted a picture on Flickr and here of one of them]
9. Dry ice hand injury video [I made a post about violent videos, their impact and if we really should use them as entertainment, this is what these search terms are about, it has been one of my most read stories]
10. Duck pc vacuum cleaner [I guess this is a brand? Otherwise people are really bored out there! Again weird]

So there it is the Top 10 search terms, in that order because I decided it; but in my opinion they are either the best or worst reason that people ended up on my Blog.

I am glad you made it however you got here, accept maybe the person looking for crash scenes with dead bodies… that is a little disturbing to say the least.

Trillian 4: I Asked for More I Got It

The Trillian dudes have come through and given us a bit more of a teaser. A teaser it is too and not much more. Again they keep their cards close to their chest.

I said in the last blog about Trillian 4 (Astra) that I would have liked to have seen a screen shot of something more than a log-in screen. So today this screen shot was accompanied by the following post:

Nothing much to say today, so here's a screenshot of the Whistler skin as it appears in my development directory. Some cool new features below!

Despite the "…cool new features below!" comment I scrolled to the bottom of the post and the comments but could not find any more than that. So I await some details about the "cool features". This is characteristically Trillian Developers Blog stuff, but hey at least it is a bit more than last time.

On first look at what I assume is the main Trillian screen, it all looks nice and polished. I don't like the contacts set out the way they are represented. But I would think that this is a feature that you could modified as a user (I hope). These types of preferences are usually options that as a user you can change. Trillian is great where preferences are concerned, Trillian has a very customisable interface and usability that is user friendly.

I am keen to hear if functionality has been improved, such as file transfer and audio and video chat as well as just general compatibility. This sort of thing doesn't usually pan out until release though.

Having said that the interface does look very similar to what is Trillian Pro. Don't know what it is I expected, I suppose that in this age of rapid web development and the shiny new sites around, a total overhaul would have been nice. Familiarity is comfortable though. But you never know what the end product might look like so we wait some more.