Posted by: kurtsh | June 4, 2010

TOOL: “MetroTwit” – Bringin’ sexy back to Windows applications (3rd Party)

image God, I love this tool.  MetroTwit is soooooo frickin’ cool that I just had to write a post about it.

MetroTwit is a Windows-based Twitter client that depends on .NET Framework 4.0 and Windows Presentation Foundation.  It’s most notable claim to fame is it’s usage of Microsoft’s “Metro” look-and-feel user interface that is clean, organized, and rich in readability and utility.  It’s being built by Long Zheng, David Golden, & Winston Pang and it’s being tabbed by it’s authors as “the Windows Twitter client you’ll love to use”.

And indeed, I do.  This is the first client I’ve truly liked using since Twitter Explorer, the easy to use, convenient desktop gadget that I use to adhoc Tweet.  It has 5 key & fundamental advantages as a Twitter client that set it apart from other clients out there:

  • Infinite scrolling
    If you ever want to read more tweets, just scroll down and more will appear almost instantly. Be careful though, it’s addictive and you could be scrolling for hours.

  • Windows 7 taskbar integration
    You don’t have to switch away from what you’re doing to keep tabs on new tweets. A counter in the taskbar will tell you exactly how many unread messages there are.

  • Autocomplete for usernames & hashtags
    The people and topics you care about, at your fingertips. Simply start typing any part of a username or hashtag and we’ll find them for you.

  • Quick-glance notifications
    Read excerpts from new tweet updates as they cycle through in the notifications. If you run out of time, hover over the notifications to stop the countdown to read even more.

  • Resizable and reorderable columns
    Not all columns must be created equal. You have the choice and flexibility to control exactly how your columns should look.

  • Flawless high DPI support
    The vector-based user interface powered by Windows Presentation Foundation works and looks even better in high DPI.

Here’s a snapshot:

image

HEY!  THAT’S THE ZUNE CLIENT!
For anyone that uses Zune, this is a carbon copy, in many ways to the look and feel of the Zune Desktop software client.  Here’s a snapshot of Zune’s Windows software:

image It’s intuitive, easy to use and configure, and the basis of so many of Microsoft’s products moving forward.  A version of this is on the Xbox 360’s dashboard.  It’s the interface basis for the Zune Device interface.  It’s the UI for the new Windows Phone 7 coming.  It’s the UI for Windows Media Center. 

Additionally, it installs as a single click-once .NET application so every time you run it, it checks to see that you’re running the most recent version over the net and if not, it will automatically update itself to the most recent binaries.  AWESOME!

The interface is so rich, it’s amazing how long I’ve gone without a client this awesome.  And I’ve tried so many tools:

Also there was Seesmic which I never wrote about but it was in contention to be my tool of choice until MetroTwit arrived and became my favorite.  You can get it for free from the site below.  Trust me:  It’s worth the download.

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