Trillian

[mukestar]

Basic Info

App Name	Trillian
App URL	http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/
App Version Reviewed	Trillian Pro 3.1
Test System Specs	Windows XP pro, Dual Xeon 3.2Ghz,6 Gig Ram,SuperMicro X6DAL-G Motherboard,Nvidia Quadro Fx3400
Supported OSes	Windows 98, 2000,Me,XP
Support Methods	Forums, Email
Trial Version Available?	Trillian Basic is available, extended features are disabled,
Pricing Scheme	Basic - Free , Pro $25

Intro:

Trillian originaly was released a good few years ago in 2000 as a solution for cross IM service messenging (despite the hostile action from certain companies to prevent 3rd party access to there services).This current version now supports connection to AIM,ICQ,MSN,Yahoo Messenger, IRC, Jabber,Rendezvous and Novell Groupwise Messenger. It supports pretty much all the features of the native clients its emulating (Voice, Video, File Transfer etc) and recently its been able to interface with Skype (via plugin) for VOIP calling

Who is this app designed for:

If you use Instant Messenging a lot, and you`ve over the years acquired multiple ID across the different networks this app is ideal.


The Good


First of all it has an excellent plug in engine with a wide variety of plugins to choose from, including email checkers, remote control for winamp, system stats. Literally hundreds to choose from. It also has a XML based skinning engine that makes it easy to customise to fit in with your desktop. It offers a tabs feature that makes it very easy to organise  that bursting contact list and the import of existing contacts is a breeze. It also has a nice little docking feature to keep contol of the conversations your paying attention to. It also comes a nicely laid out options screen (this app has LOADS of options) to help set it up the way you want it.

The needs improvement section

Some skins can be a little hit and miss, mostly due to Trillian not being 100% backward compatible with older ones.


Why I think you should use this product


Products like that are down to personal choice on how you respond to the "feel" of the app. I`ve been using trillian since 2000 and have seen it grow up into the fine piece of software it is today. I think it offers more features and customisation than anything else out there.


How does it compare to similar apps

Similar apps for IM interoperability include Miranda and Gaim, both of which ive installed and used during the "shall i pay to go pro" stage. I stuck with trillian.


Conclusions

Well as ive been using this App in one form or another for 6 years id have to be a sadist not to give it 5 out of 5. Its all you need to communicate to your friends, collegues and family accross the wide spectrum of IM protocols out there. Did i mention the plugins?

[Josh]

Very nice review!

May I ask what made you stay with trillian over gaim or miranda? I prefer gaim myself as trillian never really showed me a feature that was a "Must have".

[mukestar]

Well, apart from being on the beta testing list , ahem

I just personally found Trillian more intuitive overall and a lot more slicker (admitidly thats asthetic rather than practical) .At the time of decision i also found out GAIM was a hell of a memory hog and miranda was buggy as hell, especially with using multiple plugins. Admitidly thats not the case anymore. I also use audio conferencing and video chat now and again, GAIM just didnt cut the mustard for me on them features.

Of course theres also je nai se qua  to take into account.

[JavaJones]

I currently use Miranda after going through Trillian and then GAIM. I left Trillian because, with the size of my contact list and history files, it was a huge memory and CPU hog. GAIM was just clunky, due in part at least to the use of GTK I think (like file browse windows for example). Miranda is not 100% ideal, it still has some problems with some file transfers (although all clients I have ever had did) and the default history viewer sucks, but with a few plugins the history manager is much improved and lots of other areas are really best-in-class too IMO. And meanwhile with all 1000 or so of my contacts (about 50 online right now) Miranda is using 6MB of memory (7MB of virtual memory). That is just way better than any other multi-protocol client I've used. And it *never* bogs down and suddenly starts eating CPU which for some odd reason GAIM and Trillian both had a habit of doing.

Still, out of the other two alternatives mentioned I would choose Trillian over GAIM, and if I were willing to pay I think Trillian Pro (which I did trial) would be a decent deal. Especially on my newer, faster machine. But Miranda does all I need/want.

IM2 also seemed promising for a while, but it is just too perpetually buggy. If it continues development maybe I'll take a look at it in a year or so.

Thanks for the review Mukestar.

- Oshyan