I’ve been trying out Twitter desktop clients for OS X, such as Twitterific, Twhirl, and Tweetdeck. First off, I just wanna say all 3 clients are awesome. For some reason I can’t stand to criticize what people give away for free.

I think I just don’t like Adobe AIR applications. One of the things I like the most about OS X is it’s user experience provided by it’s UI. Applications all look like they belong together, and work with one another. AIR applications don’t fall into that category. It’s more like a flash application for your desktop. It’s a good idea, and I can appreciate it for it’s cross-platform compatibility, kinda like Java. I’m sure developers love it but from a user standpoint, it’s no more fun to use than a Java app.

That being said, Twitterific is my favorite by far. It’s not as fully featured as Twhirl, but the UI is much more pleasant to use. I like that I can have an icon on the menu bar up out of the way. I get updates via Growl notifications and the icon turns blue, so then I can click on the icon to read the updates. The actual window is transparent and up out of the way. I use the free version and don’t mind the ads at all. I just wish it had the bit.ly URL shortening and some kind of picture uploading, along with location awareness. Something I really like doing is checking out what’s going on in the Twittersphere within a 5 mile radius or so. Living in Cincinnati, there’s usually a lot! It makes for some fun reading, and I think it’s a great way to network.