We just pushed an update (Build 25, r14142 r14158) that introduces many new bug fixes and enhancements. It took us longer than usual to get this update out because we did not want to push any more updates until the new auto-update system was ready. As always, you can read the entire list of new features, bug fixes, and enhancements on our Change Log. Notable changes:

• New auto-update system: Digsby not launching due to partial updates should be a thing of the past. Since we are still using the old system to move to this build, a small portion of you will still need to run the installer if you get stuck.  If Digsby fails to start after this update, download and run the installer here.
• Twitter Improvements: We have gotten a lot of feedback on the new Twitter implementation and much of that has been implemented. The new Twitter boasts improved performance, shorter default update timers, options to configure update timers, ability to manually update, and several other enhancements.
• SNAC Error Fixed: This was caused by a protocol change on the ICQ servers and it is fixed in this build.

The goal for the next build is an important one. Every time we hear about Digsby’s RAM usage the response is, “we haven’t optimized yet; we wanted to get it out to the public to start getting feedback.” That time has come! We are going to focus on improving GUI responsiveness and lowering our memory footprint significantly for the next build! Right after that, the next few builds will focus on all the bugs you have reported. Thank you for all the feedback and enjoy the new build.

Update 1: We have gotten reports of a few bugs in the buddy list and with proxy support. We are fixing these right now and will have a new update out shortly. (9:30pm)
Update 2: The bugs we introduced are fixed and we pushed another build. There are a couple minor issues left that we will fix in the morning. There will probably be another build tomorrow with a few bug fixes and then we will focus on performance! (1:20am)

Update: WOW - thank you all for testing the updater.  I think we got enough feedback that if you are just getting to this post there is no need to test it. We will do a code review tomorrow morning and push an update out.   It includes the new auto-updater and numerous bug fixes.  It also has new options for Twitter and much improved Twitter performance (the cache build up was slowing it down over time).

It seems that every time we push an update we get a few emails about Digsby completely not working afterwards. We have a new auto-update system that should solve this. Last week we asked some of you do test it out and we thank you for your help. We have made a few changes and would like to run one more test before pushing it out to everyone. The worst thing that can happen is it doesn’t work and you will need to download and run the installer from our website. No matter what happens, none of your preferences or account information will be lost. There are instructions below. Please post your results as a comment in this blog post.

1. Download and run the installer located here:
   • http://update.digsby.com/digsby_setup_test.exe
2. This will install a version of Digsby with the new auto-update system. When you launch Digsby it will check for updates. Since the version you just downloaded is not the same as the one everyone else has, it will actually revert back to the version you are currently running using the new auto update system.
3. Please pay attention to what is happening during this process. It will download updates and restart Digsby. Once this is done, log in as you normally would and click Help > About Digsby. Make sure that you are back to version 13706.
4. If Digsby just logs in and shows a version other than 13706 that means the entire update wasn’t downloaded. You should restart Digsby to let the update finish - this is not considered a failure.
5. If anything went wrong, you can download the latest installer from our website and run it. There is no need to uninstall - that is the first thing that the installer does when you run it.
6. Please post your results on this thread so we know if it is ready to be pushed to our entire user base. Make sure to include the following information: operating system, admin or not, UAC on or off (vista only), success or failure, other information about what happened.
7. If the process fails at any point, please email update@digsby.com before reinstalling.

Sample Report 1 (success)
OS: Windows Vista
Account: Admin
UAC: On
Result: Worked

Sample Report 2 (fail then success)
OS: Windows XP
Account: Admin
Result: It downloaded some files but then logged right in without restarting. I checked the revision using Help > About but it was the wrong one. The I then exited and tried again. It downloaded a few more files, after which it restarted like it was suppose to. I then checked the revision it was was back to 13706.

Sample Report 3 (fail)
OS: Windows XP
Account: Non-Admin
Result: It downloaded files and then I got splash screen that said it was restarting along with an error. The error window had the title “XXXXX” and the error message was “XXXXX”. I am going email you right now for instructions on submitting more information about this error.

Update: Test #2 now taking place with a few changes - see the blog post with instructions here.

It’s a little past 3:30am and we just finished the new auto-updater! It seems that every time we push an update we get a few emails about Digsby completely not working afterwards and a few diagnostic logs with errors that we know don’t really exist. The reason for this is that a small portion of users get a partial update each time we push a new build. Additionally, if you are a non-admin user on Windows XP or Windows Vista the update would go into an endless loop because we had no way of knowing that the user doesn’t have write permission to the Digsby folder.

The new auto-update system is better in a few ways. First, it makes backups of all the old files and reverts to them all if the update fails at some point. It will just try again next time you restart Digsby. Second, for non-admin users it asks for elevated privileges, allowing an admin to put in their password so the update can take place. Third, while it is copying the new files from a temporary folder and restarting Digsby you now see a small splash screen so you know it is still busy.

Since the auto-updater is the most critical component (if we break it, then everyone would need to reinstall) we would like to have some of you test it before we push it to everyone. The worst thing that can happen is it doesn’t work and you will need to download and run the installer from our website. No matter what happens, none of your preferences or account information will be lost. There are instructions on our forum, which is also where we would like you to post your results:

http://forum.digsby.com/viewtopic.php?id=769

The community run website at digsbies.org is holding a poll asking what IM protocol we should have next and we thought we would promote the poll a bit to get some insight:

http://digsbies.org/site/node/137

On another note, we have a new build coming early next week with the Twitter enhancements you have been asking for, a more solid auto-update system, and numerous bug fixes.

LifeHacker is holding a poll to determine the best IM client and Digsby is in the race as one of the top five even though we publicly launched just two weeks ago.

The article gives us a great review saying, “Digsby has taken the world by storm… Digsby is converting new users left and right with their simple but appealing formula: IM + Email + Social Networking = Digsby”

Please support us by voting here: http://lifehacker.com/375391/five-best-instant-messengers

I recently got an email from Brandon De Hoyos, the Guide to IM at About.com. They are hosting the “2008 IM Best Awards”, which will deliver top honors to the best instant messaging clients and their developers. About.com is accepting nominations for this honor in the following categories:

• Best Instant Messenger Experience, measuring overall user experience;
• Most Improved Instant Messenger, based on back-to-back client releases;
• Best Mac Instant Messenger, based on overall user experience;
• Best Third-Party IM
• Best IM Feature
• Best IM Developer(s) of the Year.

Winners in each category will be given featured Essentials placement for one year on http://im.about.com, in addition to all the bragging rights
among the IM community. These nominations must be e-mailed to im.guide@about.com for consideration.

Please show your support for Digsby by sending an email to Brandon at im.guide@about.com. Let me know why you love Digsby and which categories you want to nominate us for.

On another note, LifeHacker just published an article asking their readers, what is the best IM client? Check out the article and leave a comment here: http://lifehacker.com/374855/best-instant-messenger.

Thank you for your continued support as we make Digsby even better

We just pushed an update (Build 23, r13703 r13706) that fixes many of the bugs reported since our public beta release! We had quite a busy week, knocking out 27 bugs and enhancements while laying groundwork for a better auto-update system and a more robust bug reporting system, which will both be pushed out as soon as we are done testing them. As always, you can read the entire list of new features, bug fixes, and enhancements on our Change Log. Most notably:

• Brought back the “Show in taskbar” preference for the buddy list - hopefully bug free this time
• Numerous fixes for the “Listening to” feature including showing both title and artist in iTunes now
• Numerous fixes for spell checker errors such as URLs, numbers, and hyphenated words
• More reliable full screen detection on Vista - XP fixes coming soon!

Our focus right now is on the remaining critical bugs and the auto-update system. After that you will see some profound improvements in performance and memory utilization. If you experience any bugs, please email us at bugs@digsby.com.

Lastly, we want to welcome to all our new users! We are glad to have you join us as we continue improving Digsby! Leave a comment to let us know how we are doing.

Update: Pushed a quick fix for a bug we introduced that prevented a few people from opening IM windows.

What a ride this has been! Since going into private beta testing just six weeks ago, we have released 15 new builds which included 35 major changes, 53 enhancements, and 109 bug fixes. Thank you to everyone who participated in the private beta test for the all the feedback and bug reports. We have been working day and night to squash bugs and implement your suggestions and will continue to do so!

Today, we are proud to announce a major milestone for our little egg-shaped friend. We are launching Digsby into public beta testing to make it available for everyone! An invite code is no longer needed and you can show your support by taking a minute to Invite Your Friends.

With today’s announcement, we are introducing several highly requested features. The complete list of changes can be found on our Change Log as always, but most notably we added:

• Twitter Support – this has been the most requested social network by far. Enjoy!
• Audio/Video Chat – we partnered with TokBox to provide A/V support across IM networks. Implementing native A/V support for all the protocols is still on the roadmap and we will add this functionality in the future.
• Spell Check – we added inline spell checking for the English language (us/gb/ca). We will add 50+ other languages very shortly.
• “Listening to…” Status – there is a new option in the status dropdown which sets your status message to the song you are currently listening to in iTunes or Winamp. We will add support for other media players in the future.
• Block Support – you can now block contacts from the right click menu on the buddy list or the dropdown menu at the top-right corner of the IM window.
• Full Screen Preferences – there is a new set of preferences in the “Advanced” tab for what Digsby should do when you are running full screen applications such as games.

We hope you enjoy the new features and if you experience any bugs send us an email at bugs@digsby.com. Moving forward, the top priority right now is optimizing performance and memory usage. Thank you for your support!

Today’s update (r13070) has a fix for one of our most annoying mis-features to date. Quite a few users (and devs) have discovered that if you get a pop-up notification while the contact list is out of sight, you magically get the buddy list back again!

This gets annoying pretty quickly- so here ya go. There are a couple other minor bug fixes and enhancements that you can see over at the complete changelog but the amazing re-appearing buddy list is the primary fix. =)

We’ve gotten reports of people being unable to connect to AIM and ICQ. The official client yields the same results - their servers are down but only for certain accounts. We are having trouble logging into AIM Mail on those same accounts. We will keep you posted here.

Update:

We just pushed a small update for a bug we introduced so the new revision is r13047. AIM servers are still down but we will update you as soon as we know more.

Update 2:

AIM/ICQ servers appear to be back to normal