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Makers of the multinetwork chat application Trillian threw open doors to the company's latest beta, previously available onto to private beta testers, allowing any Windows user to test Trillian 4.1 beta before the code becomes final.

Chief among the changes in the beta are new social networking features and tight integration with Windows 7 for users of Microsoft's most recent operating system. Trillian 4.1 beta supports story links and avatar pictures in more locations on the interface, as well as Twitter hash tags and direct (@) replies. You can now also tweet from the contact list, follow and unfollow users, and edit a message before you retweet. Here's the full list of changes for Twitter and Facebook users.

Although the current stable version, Trillian Astra 4.0, works fine in Windows 7, the beta brings on optimizations, like support for jump lists, and an animated progress bar that displays during file transfers (see all new features).

Trillian 4.1 beta for Windows also gets an overhaul in the e-mail notifications department, with six additional features that span new views in which to organize your messages, to new things you can do with notification messages, like toggling through alerts and shoving them into any corner of the screen. The ability to manage incoming messages from the right-click context menu looks especially convenient.

Read more about Trillian 4.1 beta's e-mail enhancements, and a few extra tweaks to status control. Beta users should be forewarned that since 4.1 is still in the development process, you may run across some bugs and instability.

Trillian faces heavy competition from all-in-one chat clients like Digsby, which also incorporates Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail notifications into its communications application. Giving Trillian greater social networking capabilities will help keep Cerulean Studios' instant messenger competitive.

Trillian Astra has finally, officially replaced Trillian 3. Users who experienced the Astra beta will find the final version to be similar, with the biggest change being the features that are limited to the paid Pro version. If you're new to Trillian Astra, this update makes the multi-protocol chat client competitive again.

The differences between the two versions are enumerated here; the short of it is that the extras are nice--but they're merely extras. You'll still get the improved performance, and support for mainstream services like Yahoo, AOL, Google, and ICQ. MySpaceIM is supported, and Skype is included, but it requires the program to be running before it can be accessed through Astra--just as Skype does with other multichat applications. It includes POP3 and IMAP account notifications rolled in alongside the Facebook and Web mail notices.

Perhaps most importantly, the Cerulean Studios team promises that Trillian Astra will be updated more frequently than Trillian 3 ever was, with regular maintenance patches.

Editor's note: There is a bug currently on the Download.com product page that indicates that the program is only available to buy. This is being worked on and should be fixed Monday. The program can be downloaded for free.

A variety of multiclient instant-messaging services have cropped up that allow users to communicate with each other over the Web. Some can be downloaded onto your desktop, while others can be accessed on the Internet. In either case, they're worth trying out, if you want to enjoy a fine experience communicating with your friends.

Multiclient IM resources

Adium Adium is my favorite multiclient instant-messaging tool for a few reasons. It supports practically any IM platform around, including AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Facebook, MySpace, Google Talk (via Jabber), and more. It even has a plug-in for Skype.

You'll rarely have any trouble communicating with friends in the service. But its most redeeming quality is that it's open source. So, if you want to modify the code to fit your own IM desires, that's possible. And those in the open-source community are constantly improving the product, whose updates typically install with ease.

When you download Adium (it's available for Mac OS X), you'll have the option of choosing your IM service. By default, Adium takes on the same design as Mac OS X. But with the help of some plug-ins from Adium's site, called "Xtras," you can customize it as you see fit. Those add-ons include emoticons, dock icons, scripts, and more. I could go on about Adium, but I think that you get the point: if you're a Mac OS X user, it's worth trying out.

Digsby Digsby is a multifaceted tool that lets you communicate with friends over instant messaging, e-mail, or social networks. I recently took a look at its social-networking capabilities. After having the opportunity to use its IM services, I was just as impressed.

After installing Digsby on my Windows PC (Mac and Linux versions are reportedly on the way), I was able to log in to my accounts on AIM, Yahoo Mail, Facebook, and others. Digsby's app is designed well, with a more attractive interface than Adium's default skin. Digsby also gives you the option of sending an SMS text message from the application. Overall, I liked Digsby.

Digsby lets you chat with anyone at any time.

(Credit: Digsby)

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Trillian Astra, which has been in development for nearly three years, is now available to users as a public beta. You won't need to register for a private key to download it, although if you've been using it since we reported on the Astra beta in April, it might be time for an upgrade.

In announcing on the Trillian blog Tuesday that the beta is now public, Cerulean Studios also said the latest build of the multi-protocol chat client fixes bugs related to server-based problems. The company clearly has confidence in the beta, though, since they've made it the featured product on their download page. Users can still grab Trillian 3.1, the latest stable build, but only from a link off to the side.

On the Trillian download page, you can also see that Cerulean Studios has plans for Mac, iPhone, and Web-based clients. So far, none of those versions is available for public testing.

Article updated at 8:30 a.m. PT with a correction about Trillian Astra's highlighting capabilities and more opinions.

Leaning on the simple journalistic knowledge that one's impression of a product changes after a week of constant use, I attempted to empty my head of first-impression snap judgments and give Trillian's Astra (screenshots), now in (seemingly open) private beta a fair, unprejudiced shot as my primary chat application. Ten days later I like the free, multinetwork instant messenger better than I did in the first few hours after downloading it.

This more congenial view could be the result of giving the app's features a chance to permeate and charm. It could also be that the thorns and snarls I first cursed have blunted as they became normalized as a result of continued use. It's somewhere between these poles that my real attitude and recommendation resides. From an IM standpoint, Astra beta lacks Yahoo Messenger 9's visual luster. Yes, I know, Yahoo's IM has the distinct advantage of being a full-fledged application and not a private beta, but then again, Cerulean Studios has had three years to focus on design. However, there's nothing terribly offensive about Astra, either, and it does have that invaluable ability to contact friends on a wide variety of IM networks going for it.

Here's what's good

1. Themes: Within Astra's simpler, cleaner Cobalt skin and the three-dimensional Cordonata is a range of colorful themes. When clicking the View navigation in the default Cordonata, around 40 themes show up, ranging from lime to esoteric colors like "Toxic," "Cupcake," and "Chameleon" (they should really come with preview pics or a color palate). In that first crucial half hour of discovery, the toasted-brown "Honey" theme kept me from ditching the program altogether.

2. Notifications and replies: It's up to you which action triggers a notification window in the bottom right of your screen, but during a chat conversation, seeing your buddy's entries can help you decide the urgency level of your response. Even better is the shortcut "reply" button that takes you to the chat window, and the "Quick Reply" that lets you respond right in the window. (Best yet would be if Astra followed Digsby's lead--see below--and enabled direct replies from the notification window without reopening the chat window by default. In other words, if it made the Quick Reply button the automatic behavior.)

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Editors' note: At 2:30 p.m., April 14, we added information about the Instant Lookup feature and other in-chat features. Updated information can be found at the bottom of the post.

The first of the multiprotocol chat clients, Trillian got its start nine years ago and had been updated with some regularity through 2005 and 2006. It was included in the Google Pack, a collection of freeware that Google was supporting. On the heels of Trillian 3.1, Cerulean Studios announced that Trillian 4, code-named Astra, was in development, and would finally port the service to Mac and Linux.

Except for the occasional minor announcement, that was the last big news about Trillian. Competition from more frequently updated services like Pidgin, Digsby, and Adium has drawn away fans, but now there's a private beta of Astra that seems to be accepting invitation requests from everybody who wants one. You can sign up for the Astra beta here--let us know if you don't get an invite, because it seems that Cerulean is taking all comers.

Back when it was announced, Astra sounded great. Support for even more chat protocols, better encryption protection, and a downloadable contact list were just a few of the tantalizing features. Facebook integration was added to the list, eventually, but by that time, many users had moved on. Astra, as it stands now, is good at what it does--but the competition has caught up.

It does everything that it should do at this point. It services multiple chat protocol, including mainstream services like Yahoo, AOL, Google, and ICQ. MySpaceIM is supported, and Skype is included, but it requires the program to be running before it can be accessed through Astra--just as Skype does with other multichat applications. It includes POP3 and IMAP account notifications rolled in alongside the Facebook and Web mail notices.

There are other useful tweaks and changes. By default, a pop-up window will appear when you receive a chat. Click on it once and you'll see two options, one for a standard Reply and the other for a Quick Reply. The Quick Reply will open a text field in the pop-up that you can write your response in, while hitting Reply will bring up the main chat window. Video chat and Webcam support are supported by default, and three view modes are available for changing up your chat window appearance.

Astra is extensible, and impressively only crashed once, when I was jumping from a Gmail notification to the actual mail message. When you install though, don't just cruise through the process on auto-pilot or you'll wind up with the Weather Channel toolbar and the Ask.com toolbar. Two other problems stuck out: the news ticker that appears at the top of the chat window can't be removed or even configured to run headlines that are useful to you, and the search function in the Options menu doesn't work. This makes it difficult to navigate through the overhaul, since many features have changed in the update.

It feels faster and smoother than previous versions of Trillian, but that's the least it should be, considering when its last update happened. The Astra skin feels slick and modern, but it can be a bit irritating at first as important features blend into the background because of a lack of contrasting colors. Overall, the experience feels smoother than I remember Trillian being, although I probably haven't touched it in about two years.

Trillian Astra is a good chat client, and it doesn't suffer from a "too little, too late" syndrome. This is a solid, modern multichat client. The question that won't be answered until it finally comes out, though, is whether anyone still cares.

Update: What I referred to above as the news ticker, Trillian calls the "Instant Lookup." It's accessible in Preferences under the Chat option. Users can configure which feeds or Instant Lookups appear, although that's not readily apparent. Click on an item to modify it and an X will appear on the right side. Click the X to remove the item, and remove all of them to remove the news ticker completely. You can add RSS feeds or "lookup" services using the buttons at the bottom of the window, but overall it's not an intuitive process. The X's could appear by default, for example, or there could be mouse-over instructions.

There's also a default feature that I neglected to point out that underlines in certain words green. Mouse over the word or phrase and the Wikipedia definitions will appear. Click on one of those words and a menu appears from which you can Copy the definition to the clipboard, Search for the term on the Web, or View the Wikipedia entry by loading the Wikipedia page. While the first and third options worked flawlessly, the Search feature took me to the Cerulean Studios Web page and tried to download an app without an extension.

I stand by my initial analysis of Astra's new features that while they're useful, they're hard to configure and some are still buggy or nonfunctional.

My favorite IM application, Trillian, has just put out a brand new build of its upcoming Astra product for alpha testers. New are Facebook notifications and quick shortcuts to jump straight to things like photo galleries and user profiles. Sorely missing from that, however, is Facebook's chat, which is what I think many Trillian users have been pining for (myself included). Free competitor Digsby has had Facebook chat integration since the beginning of May, shortly after the service was launched.

Scott Werndorfer, co-founder and head developer of Trillian, tells me his team is waiting on proper XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) integration with Facebook chat to be finished, something that might be announced at next week's F8 event after originally being promised in mid-May. Until then developers have had to cobble together their own solutions that require the use of your browser--something nobody wants to deal with with their desktop chat application.

The good news is that the new build brings with it support for IRC--the chat medium that has proven to be invaluable for things like live blogging and customer care chat in enterprise businesses. Trillian has full support for administrative controls and server surfing. You can also encrypt the contents of your chat room in case you're sharing personal or business information--something AIM and many others don't provide.

Trillian Astra is currently in private alpha, meaning you'll have to sign up to be a tester to give it a spin. You can find the sign-up page here.

The shouts of indignation from defenders of the two big multiprotocol IM apps, Pidgin or Trillian, are a bit more hushed these days. The newest chat client in town makes them both look passe.

Digsby is a free beta release of a supercharged communications client that gathers up major IM networks like Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Google Talk, Jabber, and ICQ with Web mail and social networks. From a single skinnable interface, people can chat, check e-mail, update Twitter, and view MySpace and Facebook activity feeds. Instant messaging, e-mailing, texting, file transfers, and voice and audio chat can all be launched from within the conversation window.

As an aside, Digsby's got some good-looking emoticons that resemble bubblier versions of Yahoo IM favorites. Although they're mapped to a range of character sets meant to be compatible with a variety of networks, some things are still lost in translation. (An emoticon for a kiss on the cheek I sent from Digsby transformed into a sloppy wet one right on the smacker when it materialized on a co-worker's screen. Oops.)

The wealth of preferences lets users rein in the number of activity notifications that pop up and customize privacy settings and most aspects of the display. I highly recommend ripping out the system-tray icons, which only add clutter, and shutting out strangers in the privacy settings. I accidentally let the latter lapse the first time I evaluated Digsby and was pestered by spim (spam IM) that I couldn't immediately quash.

When you've got your preferences just so, including some splendid skins, you, too, may begin to see Digsby as a perfect example of where integrated services are going. Based on my imagination, I predict a basic mobile version and integration with image editing and video playback next.

Spring is an exciting time for tech. A slew of products that have been hibernating in development cocoons are ready to emerge just in time for the flora to wake up, the the sun to turn on (at least here in the northern hemisphere,) and for techies to regain that bounce in their step. Here are eight downloads and Web applications we expect to see frolicking across computer screens this spring.

But why stop there? CNET editors have also slaved to bring you details galore on the season's top gadgets. Check out the latest in cameras, phones, laptops, and gaming gear here.