Trillian (chat client): Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Created by Cerulean Studios, Trillian is an instant messaging application for Windows which can connect to AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC and Jabber networks (the latter with a plug-in).

The program was originally available only as freeware, until on September 10, 2002 the first commercial version of Trillian, Trillian Pro 1.0, was released. The creators of Trillian have promised to continue to support and maintain a free version of Trillian. However, Trillian remains a closed-source application.

The program was named after Trillian, a fictional character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Cerulean Studios released version 2.0 of Trillian in October 2003, and are working on updates for it as well as for the free version of Trillian.

Plug-ins

Trillian is a closed source application, but the Pro version can be extended by plug-ins. Plug-ins by Cerulean Studios itself include a spelling checker, weather updater, e-mail checker, winamp song title scroller, stock exchange monitor, and RSS feedreader, as well as a plug-in for the Jabber network. Others have developed various plug-ins, such as a games plug-in which can be used to play chess and checkers, a protocol plug-in to send NetBIOS messages through Trillian, or an automatic translator for many European languages to and from English.

Plug-ins are available for free and are hosted at the main Trillian website, but will only work with the Pro version of Trillian.

Examples of other multi-protocol instant messaging clients for Windows include Miranda IM (open source) and Jabber. For Linux and other Unix-like operating systems they include Kopete (KDE). The Milkbone and Gaim clients works on both Windows and Unix-like operating systems.

Like Trillian both Gaim and Miranda IM support feature extensions via plugins. Miranda IM plugins, like Miranda IM itself, are free.

See also: designHazard, who designed Trillian's default skin