IM & Trillian, Redux
A Good Product Gets Significantly Better

    We assessed Instant Messaging (IM) technology in an earlier story ("Instant Messaging," , August, 2002), and recommended you consider Trillian as your IM software.  Since then, there's a new, better Trillian offering.

    When we looked at the new Trillian Pro, we also examined IM Anywhere, version 3.1, from AT&T.  However, our tests showed it was neither as complete or as robust as even the original Trillian product we recommended, so we don't yet consider it worth your time.

    IM is provided by several different companies, all competing with each other to grab customers, and so it's a Babel of different, inconsistent rules.  The Trillian IM client has implemented the ability to talk with the five major IM suppliers (AOL, ICQ, IRC, MSN and Yahoo), so you can be at the center of connectivity, no matter what particular service your various collaborators may be using.

    In early September, developers released Trillian Pro.  It's more reliable and robust, but it costs $25 (although you can still get the older model, now version 0.74, for free).  If you use IM, it's a "no-brainer."  The fee gets you a license and free updates for a year.

    Once you're connected to an IM service, whether with Trillian or some other client, you can reach the publisher of as:

    The fifth option, IRC, was developed in an earlier era, and has funkier rules.  IRC requires prear-rangement of the specific "channel" to be used (we like to use the EFNet server irc.concentric.net, channel #net-working).  Drop us an eMail to set up an IRC session, if you'd like to test that option (caogdin@deepwoods.com).

This article was originally published in the newsletter, October, 2002
and is available to our subscribers on our website, http://www.net-working.com.