I got an email sometime last week informing me that I'm on the Alpha testing for TrillianAstra. Just got around to installing and configuring it today. So far so good. I think I screwed up at the initial part of configuration as it tried to import my old settings but my Astra account info was wrong so I had to delete the profile and start fresh.

It's sporting support for the myspace im which is great for myspace people, but not me. It's got widgets now too. So far they seem pretty useless to me but some people love that stuff. I do use the flickr widget but I have no idea what the hell it actually does.

I think the folks over at cerulean studios are attempting to start their own IM platform as well. Which to me seems like an already crowded sector to be in but they do work with pretty much all the other IM services so they may have a shot. They also claim its going to be a one stop type solution. So far I have no Astra contacts I'm just using all my AIM/YIM/MSN contacts so finding more about their platform isn't possible just yet, as they also don't yet seem to have any kind of user directory to find other astra users. So far no crashy or super annoying bugs that one would expect from an alpha.