Trillian Astra interview: Lead developer Scott Werndorfer

If you were anywhere near as excited to read about the Trillian Astra sneak preview last week as I was to write about it, you'll know what a pleasure it was for me to get the chance to ask Cerulean Studios co-founder Scott Werndorfer a few questions this weekend. Scott was kind enough to give us a few answers about the upcoming version of Trillian and the IM business.

The Cerulean Studios web site says you're one of the company's founders. Apart from that, what's your role in Trillian's development? How big is the Trillian Astra team?

Cerulean has 5 full-time employees and 4 part-time contractors. I am responsible for roughly half of the programming duties.

When will Astra be finished?

As soon as it's done. :) We will have a better idea of what defines "done" after we receive more feedback from the upcoming alpha and beta tests.

Will there be a free version of Trillian Astra as with previous version of Trillian?

Yes.

The Astra preview site says that IMCore compiles natively on Windows, OS X, and Linux, and seems to hint that more might be in store for those platforms. Is Trillian going cross-platform?

That's our eventual goal. Porting the network code (IMCore) was an important first step in proving the model, and the resulting code will be used immediately in tandem with some of our upcoming web technology. I'll be detailing some of this on the blog in the coming weeks.

Almost every IM network is adding VoIP and video features. Will Astra keep up? Will it have Skype support?

We'll be expanding on Trillian 3.0's basic VoIP/Video support in an upcoming build of Astra, yes. Skype support exists today via a third-party plugin which takes advantage of Skype's API. Unfortunately, the Skype API requires the Skype software to be installed and running while in use, and does not provide access to backend VoIP functionality outside of the Skype software. Because of this limitation, we've never felt that Skype integration was a good fit with a default Trillian install.

How do you feel about Trillian being removed from Google Pack? Do you have any other plans in the works to reach a larger audience?

We've always put our primary emphasis on building great software and letting the results speak for themselves, both good and bad. Grassroots marketing has been very kind to us, and although we were disappointed with Google's decision to remove Trillian from Google Pack, time marches on.

The Astra preview site says that "The protocols used by Trillian Astra are open to any client developer wishing to interoperate with them" and that documentation will be provided for them. Does that include the protocols Astra uses to communicate with third-party networks like AIM and MySpaceIM?

No. While at this point we understand many of the protocols involved in making IM work, we are in no way the authoritative experts on any protocols other than our own. Published information will be limited to systems directly under our control.

With Astra's new web-based features Cerulean Studios seems to be moving into the web service business, putting it in direct competition with companies like Meebo, Netvibes, and even Google. How do you expect that will play out?

We believe we are still far away from the day when desktop software is obsolete. Our focus remains on interoperability, whether it be between AIM and MSN or the desktop and the web. Web services can become even more useful with a strong desktop backend, and we're hoping to prove the point with Astra.

What IM features will be available on the web, e.g. will it be possible to send pictures or files via the web interface?

Our ultimate goal is to mirror as much desktop functionality on the web as is technically possible. Once the basics are covered, we'll absolutely be looking into pictures, files, and even VoIP support.

The Astra preview site makes no mention of IRC--will it still be supported?

Yes--our existing plugin hasn't gone anywhere and will continue to work on Trillian Astra.

Thanks for your time, Scott! We can't wait to see how Astra turns out.