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Is Microsoft going to block Trillian? The short answer is NO!
Read the details here, then come back and share your comments.
Well this could be a good thing for Cerulean Studios and Trillian. If the Tril beta 2 supports the new MSN protocols but not .74 and 1.0 I’m sure a lot of users will be willing to purchase and upgrade to 2.0.
Regardless, I am not worried. I’ve had 2 MSN accounts complimentary on Trillian for well over a year but have yet to use either account. However I am aware many others use MSN with Trillian extensively and I hope it all works out for the benefit of those users. 🙂
Hey Rob, long time!
Yeah, this could end up being a real plus for Trillian, especially if it turns out that some of the other third-party IM programs like Miranda and Odigo stop working. I’m nearly positive that Odigo isn’t using the up-to-date MSN protocol; I’m not sure about Miranda.
Quote:quote:Originally posted by robbear7Well this could be a good thing for Cerulean Studios and Trillian. If the Tril beta 2 supports the new MSN protocols but not .74 and 1.0 I’m sure a lot of users will be willing to purchase and upgrade to 2.0.
Well 1.0 users get 2.0 as part of their subscription. As for 0.74 users, according to the Trillian front page:
Quote:quote:Those customers currently using Trillian .74D – our next release will be focused on updating our free client. This build is currently in testing and will be released after Pro 2.0.So hopefully people using the free version won’t miss out 🙂 Also the next version of free Trillian is based upon Pro code, so I presume that it will use the new MSN protocol too.
Yeah hey Jeff, how are you doing? I’ve been in over my head in projects, and my site has gone into a temporary rut because of it, but I’m fighting back now 🙂
Ooh hey, it’s about time they update the free client. That .74 build has been there for nearly 2 years.
Looks like all will benefit regardless.
As Jim pointed out, once we have Trillian Pro 2.0 out, we’re going to do a Trillian 2.0 free edition derived from Trillian Pro 2.0. Free’s never been dead, but we seriously needed to rearchitect things — witness making everything Unicode compliant, rewriting the windowing code, and so on — and wanted to focus on doing that in Pro first, and making a resuable code base between the two versions.
The MSN changes will therefore propagate to the Trillian free release, too. As for MSN’s motives, they’re actually quite reasonable. They’re not ‘blocking third party clients,’ they’re merely removing the expensive legacy support for really old-and-outdated versions of the MSN protocol to simplify their servers; any third-party client is still welcome to connect as long as they’re using the more recent versions of the protocol.
Quote:quote:Originally posted by afadaWhat about inteop IM’s ,,, will they work ?
As for other interoperable messengers, things aren’t so rosey. See this discussion for details.
Some of the trade journals are reporting that Microsoft is talking with Cerulean Studios about licensing the protocol. In simple terms, Cerulean Studios might be “asked” to pay Microsoft for the privilege of including MSN support.
Has anyone heard anything that confirms this, or is it still speculation and conjecture?
I’ve heard some hints that CS might have to ask MS for a license, but nothing about them having to pay fee. Microsoft claims they’re only doing this for security, not for cash. In any case, I’ve got nothing concrete.
Yep, it’s official… neither Trillian nor MSN can garuntee that Trillian users will be able to connect to MSN after October 15th… Interesting when you consider that Trillian’s paid versions come with a “NO REFUNDS for any reason, including failure to connect” policy! I hope that any individuals who are considering the purchase of Trillian’s new release are aware of the risk that they are taking… What’s more, is that Yahoo and ICQ will likely and logically follow suit and may expect monetary compensation from third party IM clients as well. A failure to connect to 2-3 clients could render Trillian useless…
Add to the above, the fact that people who do not renew their Trillian subscriptions will end up paying less for the same product over the long run, than those who do keep paying to renew their subscriptions/memberships and you can see how Trillian’s pay scale works against it… And speaking of working against itself… Trillian boasts over 11 million downloads and Microsoft is considering third party IM clients individually and is assessing it’s likely user base as a defining criteria… The more Trillian users there are the more it may cost Trillian’s developers to maintain the ability to connect to MSN and ironically the more likey it will be that Cerulean Studios may find it necessary to decline to accept Microsofts terms and conditions for the right to connect and that could leave its users out in the cold…
Quote:quote:Originally posted by LanaYep, it’s official… neither Trillian nor MSN can garuntee that Trillian users will be able to connect to MSN after October 15th…
Where did you hear that “it’s official?” From everything I’ve read, Trillian Pro 2.0 already does support the new protocol and is compatible. As for whether Cerulean Studios has a license with Microsoft or not, I cannot say. But if it’s working now (as Trillian Pro 2.0 is… I’m running it), it should still be working after October 15th. Trillian Pro 2.0 is already using the newer MSN protocol, so if you have it, MSN will continue to work for you after the 15th.
That’s not to say that if CS and MS can’t come to an agreement, CS wouldn’t be forced to remove MSN support from a future version of Trillian, but if you have a working version now, just don’t upgrade and it would continue to work. The only way Microsoft could prevent 2.0 from working with MSN is if they change the protocol again and prevent CS from updating their software to support it (presumably through legal measures).
Quote:quote:Originally posted by JeffQuote:quote:Originally posted by LanaYep, it’s official… neither Trillian nor MSN can garuntee that Trillian users will be able to connect to MSN after October 15th…
Where did you hear that “it’s official?” From everything I’ve read, Trillian Pro 2.0 already does support the new protocol and is compatible. As for whether Cerulean Studios has a license with Microsoft or not, I cannot say. But if it’s working now (as Trillian Pro 2.0 is… I’m running it), it should still be working after October 15th. Trillian Pro 2.0 is already using the newer MSN protocol, so if you have it, MSN will continue to work for you after the 15th.
That’s not to say that if CS and MS can’t come to an agreement, CS wouldn’t be forced to remove MSN support from a future version of Trillian, but if you have a working version now, just don’t upgrade and it would continue to work. The only way Microsoft could prevent 2.0 from working with MSN is if they change the protocol again and prevent CS from updating their software to support it (presumably through legal measures).
Hi Jeff,
By official I was referring to the comments by Microsoft in the many articles that have been published and from the answer that I received via the support ticket feature via Trillian Pro just before my subscription ran out the other day, just like yours: I asked: “Wed Sep 10 21:00:28 2003]:Dear Cerulean Studios, I would greatly appreciate a response to the
following questions please:
2. Can Cerulean Studios garuntee that Trillian .74, Trillian Pro 1.0,
and Trillian 2.0 version users will be able to connect to MSN after
October 15th, 2003? Please include the answer for each version
respectively. Thank you in advance for your answer…
and the answer could not confirm that… It merely stated that:” We are working with Microsoft right now. When more news is available we will post it on the website.” If they knew that connection was not going to be a problem I would think that they would have said so… and “working with” indicates that the issue has not yet been resolved… it goes beyond needing/having the appropriate protocol… Especially now that CS charges for Trillian Pro there are definite legalities invovled…Wed Sep 10 21:00:28 2003]:
> Dear Cerulean Studios, I would greatly appreciate a response to the
> following questions please:
> 2. Can Cerulean Studios garuntee that Trillian .74, Trillian Pro 1.0,
> and Trillian 2.0 version users will be able to connect to MSN after
> October 15th, 2003? Please include the answer for each version
> respectively. Thank you in advance for your answer…
>Quote:quote:Originally posted by carbonizeMaybe MSN are just thinking about charging Trillian as Trillian Charges users?
It does seem that way according to this quote from microsoft:
“Cerulean Studios, maker of the Trillian IM client, is at the top of Microsoft’s hit list. Trillian enables users to consolidate multiple IM accounts in one client and is available in a free version, as well as a $25 Pro version that offers additional features. Trillian has been downloaded more than 10 million times, according to Cerulean Studios.
“Running an [IM] network is expensive,” says Lisa Gurry, group product manager for MSN at Microsoft. “We can’t sustain multiple other-people’s businesses, particularly if they charge for certain versions of their software. We’re introducing licensing processes for third parties like Trillian.”
Taken from http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1093&e=8&u=/pcworld/112234 Under the bold heading: Target Trillian
I posted this in another thread so my apologies in advance as I wasn’t sure how to link to that thread… sorry:o
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