Joshua Tretakoff

Member since: Nov 1st, 2005

Joshua Tretakoff's Latest Comments

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Download Squad	3 Comments

Recent Comments:

Adam's Favorite Windows Apps: Trillian (Download Squad)

Oct 18th 2008 3:20AM Ok, this is sure to inspire some great flames, but here goes:

Trillian, as it is today, is worthy of all of these comments. However, Trillian Astra, which I have been beta testing for quite a while, makes the rest of these look like amateur hour. The latest version integrates Facebook seamlessly, and it is easily the most stable, professional, and powerful IM client I have used.

Like most of the commenters here, I have also used Digsby. While I do like it's good connectivity to the multiple chat services, I find it's interface to be childish and wonky. The skins are cartoonish, and practically unusable: the mere poor readability and sheer real estate each chat window requires to read a simple IM conversation is unacceptable. Sure, it ships with 900 skins to try to allow customization, but not one of them offers maximum information display and all are variants of left/right and color. If it had a thriving developer community, perhaps that could be corrected, but hey; it's been out for a while now, and not one good resource has emerged.

Astra, on the other hand, has steadily evolved on the basics that made Trillian so good: excellent conversation management, superb archiving and search capabilities, and extensibility that allows it to be an invaluable app. Embedded RSS feeds? One plug in away, and actually readable in the small contact list real estate. Multiple window management? Hello, containers. And yes, the skins are superb, with each offering excellent readability and notification options, without looking like a 5 year old drew them. Add to that a perfect web version, archiving, and integrated Google desktop search options, and it's still the clear winner.

Personally, I'm happy to pay the $25 for the application. Yes, I think Astra should have shipped long before this. I do think that a lack of Skype integration is a glaring hole that can be addressed with add-ons, but that's a statement that can be made for any of these clients (hey, video chat folks, there is simply nothing better on the PC than Skype). And yes, I think Trillian's commitment to quality rather than speed to market is costing them, and making room for competitors like Digsby. And yes, I have an unfair advantage being in the beta. So, I'd say with all of those caveats, I can completely understand why the other comments here speak so highly of Digsby.

The release of Astra will once again make it clear why Trillian is still the best choice. But until then, the rest of these commenters have excellent points. I can only be grateful I have been using Astra for months, and extend my recommendation for it, for anyone looking to use a real multiservice IM client in any sort of professional atmosphere.

Best portable media player ever? - Readers Sound Off (Download Squad)

Jan 6th 2007 4:21AM I know it sounds out of place, but my vote is the Palm TX, with TCMP. BIG screen, wide variety of format playback, excellent sound, long battery life, and slim. Plus, it's got WiFi, Bluetooth, and is a full platform for e-mail, web browsing, and 1000's of apps. It's my indispensable travel companion: supports 4GB SD cards, so I can load up half a season of a TV series for a long plane ride, and play hundreds of games when I want a break.

Anagram: Quickly capture addresses, meetings, and other stuff into Outlook (Download Squad)

Nov 1st 2005 2:24AM I've been using it for years. Great utility, but a bit of a memory hog, and, while they actively solicit feedback to help improve the recognition software, there has only been about 2 updates in the last year, so not much payoff. Overall, incredibly useful program, but could be a bit more streamlined.