Trillian - The definitive multi-medium messenger (Trillian)

Member Name: steve_pc

Product:	Trillian
Date:	20/11/01 (656 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 5 Mediums from one program, Quick, Small, Skinnable

Disadvantages: Group importing from ICQ not supported, File transfer only in IRC for now

I'll tell you how I have seen the world from an Instant Messenging perspective: First I had MSN, used it to chat to one mate, then I forgot all about it. Later I got ICQ. Great application, used that for a very long time. It became very bloated indeed however, and was very slow to load. Also my friends started using MSN Messenger. It sucked to have two apps open. So I got Miranda ICQ. A very good program, for nobody who has used it, it is a very slim client for ICQ only, good, but not multi-medium like Trillian. Then I went back to ICQ & MSN for a bit.

Until I found Trillian.cc. It blew everything away. It rocked. It gets better with every new release, and supports IRC, ICQ, MSN, AIM, and Yahoo.

For a start, it was pretty easy to install, and found and converted my ICQ address database. Alas it did not keep my groups, which was an extreme annoyance, and caused me to have to re organise them all by hand. However, overlook this, for it is the best instant messenger that exsists. I am running Windows XP, and it runs fine. It also runs fine on 98. Apparently it does not on 2000, but it's still worth a try. For a start, it is much smaller to download than all the other clients.

You can also skin it in a variety of ways, and because it's skins are XML format, you can even make your own detailed skins! It loads quickly, and is very simple to use in the basic mode. In advanced it provides a console window, with more complicated stuff. However I recommend the basic mode, believe me you won't feel the need to switch to advanced.

Conclusion:
You want a multi-medium messenger that has everything (almost)? You just found it. http://www.trillian.cc for the goods. Disadvantages are that it doesn't support File transfer in anything but IRC yet, of course the groups not being kept from ICQ. Also it has less "features" than ICQ, such as the waste of space calender, etc etc. You won't miss them unless you d
id honestly use them.

Summary: