Software: Trillian Pro v1.0 .
Reviewed By: Greg Hard

Trillian is, and has always been, my favorite piece of software for as long as I can remember. For those of you unlucky people who cant use it, it combines AIM, ICQ, Y!, IRC and MSN into one clean feature packed program. They've done it again, upgraded it, and are...charging for it?

In this mini review, I'm going to talk Pro. Trillian Pro, that is. Here's a shocker.
I absolutely love Trillian Pro.

First, here are my ratings.

• Performance - 8 - I gave performance an 8 because it loads quickly and uses little ram and resources. However, the old trillian used a little bit less, but that's not a big deal.
• Features - 9 - I gave features a 9 because there are SO many features, that can do so many things.
• Usability - 7 - It's easy to use, but some things are hidden inside the preferences area and hard to find.
• Design - 8.5 - The design deserves higher than an 8, but less than a 9. But since it's skinable, the default design can be changed making this rating totally null and void.
• Price - 7 - It's only $25, but that's YEARLY for updates.
• Support - 9 - They're known for great support with your problems, if any are found.

Now for some feature highlights!

RSS Feeds

Any site using RDF, XML or backend.php files to syndicate content, can be in Trillian Pro. You can even get alerts when new ones are added. It comes with some built in, but I added a few of my own.

Weather

Simple. Get realtime weather in Trillian Pro . Useful, saves some clicks... Not worth $25, but it helps.

MetaContacts

VERY cool feature in Trillian Pro . Allows you to group as many contacts as you want, from any service, in one group. Example: I could have a UBB meta contact with all my ubb contacts in there that show when I hover over the contact name. Possibilities are endless.

Events
Events are powerful tools in Trillian Pro allowing you to set sounds, set away messages/idle time after a period of minutes, launch programs and ever so much more!
Read More About Events

Next Page: Screen Grabs, and More!

Every product needs an angle. In these screenshots you'll see the angle is pretty much square. Ok, bad joke, I know.

Time for some screen shots and feature examples.

MetaContacts:



See the contacts? See them expand? This can be useful, don't ya think?

We can examplify the MetaContacts.

Corporate Buddies
** John Hon
** Davin Smavin
** Jason Spason

Relatives
** Auntie Mal
** Cousin Roberts
** Doris Roberts

Friends
** Dan
** Sam
** Kevin

See? Stops buddy list clutter. Other uses could be AIM users, ICQ users, etc all in one metacontact. Find them easily.

RSS Feeds:



Nice and clean. Want to look at something? Click the plus sign.



Smilies!

There are tons of smilies in Trillian Pro, which is just filling but they are kind of cool. You can also turn them off individually in messages.



Cool, no?

A Conversation

Just to give you an idea of what an instant message window looks like



The options on the top, in order of appearance:

• Direct Connect
• Send File
• Turn sounds off/on
• Add Contact
• Warn
• Block
• Message History
• Get Information

Next Page: Conclusions and more features

Installation
The installation process is as easy as it gets. Literally, easiest program I ever installed.

Ease of Use
Trillian Pro is easy to use in most respects, however some features may be burried and can be a bit confusing in some small areas. Not bad, not great. It's GOOD.

Feature Rap-up

There are tons of new features, like POP3 mail checking, Stock Quotes, Winamp integration, etc. Read more about them here .

Top 5 Best, IMO
* MetaContacts
* RSS Feeds
* Word Matching
* Alerts and Events

Dislikes
* 5megs more memory than before, and some new resources. Its better than the first beta, though.
* Yearly fee for upgrades.
* Lacking some IRC commands (/hop for example, is now /cycle)

Overall I give Trillian Pro a total 10, compared to its competition (Old trillian or all those IM clients). But in general, a 9 out of 10.

The features are at an all time high in Trillian Pro and it promises to get even better with age!

- Greg Hard