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Trillian (instant messaging client)
Encyclopedia
Trillian is a proprietary
multiprotocol instant messaging application
for Windows
, Mac OS X
, Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS
, and the Web, created by Cerulean Studios
. It can connect to multiple IM services, such as AIM
, ICQ
, Windows Live Messenger
, Yahoo! Messenger
, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger
, Bonjour, XMPP
, and Skype
networks; as well as social network
s, such as Facebook
, Twitter
and MySpace
; and email
services, such as POP3, IMAP, Gmail
, Hotmail
and Yahoo! Mail.
Initially released July 1, 2000, as a freeware
IRC client, the first commercial version (Trillian Pro 1.0) was published on September 10, 2002. The program was named after Trillian
, a fictional character
in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams
. The old version of the official web site even used to have a shrine to Douglas Adams on its front page.
On August 14, 2009, the prior major release of Trillian for Windows, named Trillian Astra (4.0), was launched, along with its own Astra network. Trillian Astra has a free version, and a premium version with extra features.
On November 18, 2009, the first mobile version of Trillian was launched for iPhone. As of 2010, final builds for Android, BlackBerry
, and Apple iOS
were available for their markets (Market
, App World
and App Store respectively) for $4.99 USD. Trillian was initially a paid app but is now free of charge.
Trillian 5 for Windows was released in May 2011.
Trillian represents each service with a different-colored sphere. Prior versions used the corporate logos for each service, but these were removed to avoid copyright issues, although some skins still use the original icons. The Trillian designers chose a color-coding
scheme based on the underground
maps used by the London Underground
that uses different colors to differentiate between different lines.
Prior versions of Trillian supported:
files. Pro has a History Manager that shows the chat history and allows the user to add bookmarks for revision later on. XML-based history makes the log easy to manipulate, searchable and extendable for future functions.
free online encyclopedia for real-time referencing using its database
of free knowledge. The feature is employed directly within a conversation window of a user. When one or more words are entered (by either user), Trillian checks all words against a database file and if a match is found, the word appears with a dotted green underline. When users point their mouse over the word, the lead paragraph of the corresponding article is downloaded
from Wikipedia and displayed on screen as a tooltip
. When users click on the underlined word, they are given the choice to visit the article online
.
set contains emoticons that don't appear in the menu but can be used in conversations. Some of these are animations that can only be viewed in Trillian Pro, but all of them can be used regardless.
.
Trillian also came with an easier skinning language, Stixe, which is essentially a set of XML
Entities that simplifies repetitive codes and allows skinners to share XML and graphics in the form of emoticon packs, sound packs and interfaces.
The default skins of Trillian are designed by designHazard. Trillian Cordillera was used in Trillian 0.7x, while Trillian Whistler has been the default skin for Trillian since Pro 1.0. Small cosmetic changes were noticeable in each major release.
The Trillian Astra features a brand new design for the front-end UI, named Trillian Cordonata.
application, but the Pro version can be extended by plugins. Plugins by Cerulean Studios itself include spell-check, weather monitor, a mini-browser (for viewing AIM profiles), Winamp
song title scroller, stock exchange monitor, RSS
feedreader, and conversation abilities for the Logitech G15 keyboard, as well as a plugin for the XMPP and Bonjour networks. Trillian 5.1 and later includes a plugin that allows you to chat and make calls on Skype without Skype being installed. Others have developed various plugins, such as a games plugin which can be used to play chess
and checkers, a protocol plugin to send NetBIOS
messages through Trillian, a plugin to interact with Lotus Sametime
clients, a plugin to interact with Microsoft Exchange
, a POP3 and IMAP email checker, or an automatic translator for many European languages to and from English.
Plugins are available for free and are hosted on the official web site, but most need Trillian Pro 2+ to run.
A month later, two minor builds were released with additional IRC features and bug fixes. Despite these efforts, Trillian was not popular, as reflected in the number of downloads from CNET's Download.com.
Trillian was a donateware at that time. They used PayPal
for receiving donations through their web site.
Although similar products, such as Odigo and Imici, already existed, Trillian was novel in the way that it distinguished contacts from different IM services clearly on the contact list, and it did not require registration of a proprietary account. It also did not lose connection easily like the other clients.
A month later, Yahoo! Messenger support was introduced in Trillian 0.61, and it also featured a holiday skin for Christmas. Meanwhile, the Trillian community forums were opened to the public.
During this period, new versions were released frequently, attracting many enthusiasts to the community. Skinning activity boomed and fan sites were created. A skinning contest was held on deviantArt
in Summer, and the winner was selected to design the default skin for the next version of Trillian. Trillian hit 100,000 downloads on August 14, 2001.
The new version implemented file transfer in all IM services, a feature most requested by the community at the time. It also represented a number of skin language changes. It used the contact list as the main window (as opposed to a status window 'container' in prior versions) and featured a brand new default skin, Trillian Cordillera, and an emoticon set boasting over 100 emoticons, setting a record apart from other messengers available at that time.
Version 0.71 was released on December 18, 2001. It supported AIM group chats and was the first major IM client which included the ability to encrypt messages with SecureIM
.
In the following months, the number of downloads of Trillian surged, reaching 1 million on 27 January 2002, and 5 million within 6 months. Trillian received coverage and favorable reviews from mainstream media worldwide, particularly by CNET
, Wired Magazine and BetaNews. The lead developer and co-founder, Scott Werndorfer, was also interviewed on TechTV
.
Trillian remained the center of attention in IM in the media for the rest of year. AOL became aware that Trillian users were able to chat with their AIM buddies without having to download the AIM client. Version 0.72 was released on January 29, 2002, and it began to suffer connection problems to AIM.
AOL blocked SecureIM access from Trillian clients. Cerulean appeared to have circumvented the block with version 0.721 of its client software, released one day later. The "AOL War" continued for the next couple weeks, with Cerulean releasing subsequent patches 0.722, 0.723 and 0.724. Trillian garnered a lot of media attention as a result, and its developers were praised by its community for their efficiency.
Trillian appeared in the Jupiter Media Metrix
Internet audience ratings in February 2002 with 344,000 unique users, and grew to 610,000 by April 2002. While those numbers are very small compared to the major IM networks, Jupiter said Trillian consistently ranks highest according to the number of average minutes spent per month.
Trillian also created a special version for Iomega
ActiveDisk.
The new version had added SMS and mobile messaging abilities, Yahoo! Messenger
webcam
support, pop-up e-mail alerts and new plug-ins to shuttle news, weather and stock quotes directly to buddy lists.
It appeared Trillian Pro would be marketed to corporate clients looking to keep in touch with suppliers or customers via a secured, interoperable IM network, and a relatively stern user interface. The company had no venture capital backing, and had depended entirely on donations from users to stay alive.
Trillian Pro 1.0 was nominated and picked among three other nominees as the Best Internet Communication shareware in its debut year of being a "try before you buy" shareware.
On April 26, 2003, total downloads of Trillian reached ten million.
attempted to block Trillian from connecting to its service in their "efforts to implement preventative measures to protect our users from potential spammers." A few patches were released by the Trillian developers, which resolved the issue.
The Trillian developers assisted its open-source cross-platform rival Gaim
in solving the Yahoo! connection issues. Sean Egan
, the developer of Gaim, posted in its site, "Our friends over at Cerulean Studios managed to break my speed record at cracking Yahoo! authentication schemes with an impressive feat of hackery. They sent it over and here it is in Gaim 0.70." It was later revealed that the developers were friends and had helped each other on past occasions.
Meanwhile, as Microsoft forced its users to upgrade to MSN Messenger 5.0 for upgrades in their servers for security issues, October 15, 2003 also would mark the deadline for Trillian support for MSN Messenger. However, it appeared that Cerulean Studios worked with Microsoft
to resolve the issue on August 2, 2003, long before the deadline.
On March 7, 2004 and June 23, 2004, Yahoo! changed its instant messaging language again to prevent third-party services, such as Trillian, from accessing its service. Like prior statements, the company said the block is meant as a pre-emptive measure against spammers. Cerulean Studios released a few patches to fix the issues within a day or two.
was created in attempt to rebuild connections between the Studios and its customers. Trillian 3 was announced in the blog, and a sneak preview was made available to a small group of testers.
After months of beta-testing, the final build of Trillian 3 was released on December 18, 2004, with features such as new video and audio chat abilities throughout AIM, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger, an enhanced logging manager and integration with the Wikipedia online encyclopedia. It also featured a clean and re-organized user interface and a brand new official web site.
The release also updated the long-abandoned Trillian Basic .74 to match the new user interface and functionalities as Trillian Basic 3.0. The number of accumulated downloads of Trillian Basic in Download.com hit 20 million within a matter of weeks.
Trillian 3.1 was released February 23, 2005. It included new features such as Universal Plug and Play
(UPnP) and multiple identities support.
On June 10, 2011, all instances of Trillian 3 Basic got an automatic upgrade to Trillian 3 Pro, free of charge.
USB flash drives on October 21, 2005, despite Trillian Anywhere making Trillian portable long before then, through small file modifications. A U3
version of Trillian Astra is also posted on the official Cerulean Studios
forum.
On January 6, 2006, Larry Page
, President of Products at Google
, announced Google Pack
, a bundle of various applications including Trillian Basic 3.0 as "a free collection of safe, useful software from Google and other companies that improves the user experience online and on the desktop".
"We're very excited for Trillian to be included in Google Pack, as we at Cerulean Studios have always been very focused on giving end-users the highest quality experience possible," said Scott Werndorfer, Co-founder, Cerulean Studios. "We believe this goal aligns Trillian perfectly with Google Pack."
The inclusion of Trillian in Google Pack was perplexing to some media analysts as Google has its own Google Talk
service, which touts the benefits of an open IM system and the free Trillian Basic client cannot be used with Google Talk. Trillian Pro is also included as one of the "client choices" in Google Talk's client choices list.
According to the Cerulean Studios blog, Trillian was discontinued from Google Pack on 19 May 2006.
More than a year after the release of Trillian 3.1, the Cerulean Studios blog began spreading news again and announced the next version of Trillian, to be named Trillian Astra. The name for version 4, Astra, is the nickname used by the same fictional character that is the namesake of the software. The new release claimed to be faster and include a new login screen. A new domain, www.trillianastra.com, was disclosed to the public, with only the logo and blue background. On July 3, 2009, Cerulean Studios reopened the premium web version of Astra to public testing. On August 14, 2009, Cerulean Studios released the final gold build. Trillian has its own social network named Astra Network, in which users who have Astra ID can communicate with each other on the network regardless of platform. Cerulean Studios later registered a new domain, www.trillian.im, to provide a more user-friendly experience.
Trillian Astra is available on Microsoft Windows, Web, Android, BlackBerry OS
, and iOS. As of August 2010, the Mac OS X
version was in beta testing.
inspired interface with Windows theme integration, new "marble-like" icons for service providers, the option to revert to the Trillian 3 & 4 interfaces, and a new social network interface window were introduced. Along with Trillian 5.0 For Windows and the aforementioned Mac beta. As of 2010, the Android and BlackBerry OS final builds were available on their respective markets for free.
, which some security programs, including Microsoft Security Essentials, class as adware
.
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
multiprotocol instant messaging application
Multiprotocol instant messaging application
A multiprotocol instant messaging application is client software composed of an IM application which may connect to multiple IM networks. The networks supported include: AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, XMPP , MSN Messenger, QQ, Yahoo! Messenger, as well as specialized networks such as Novell GroupWise...
for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS
BlackBerry OS
BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system, developed by Research In Motion for its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices...
, and the Web, created by Cerulean Studios
Cerulean Studios
Cerulean Studios is a software house based in Connecticut, United States, notable for developing Trillian, an instant messaging client.It was founded in May 1998 by Kevin Kurtz and Scott Werndorfer. While still living at his parent's home, Werndorfer used $10,000 of his savings to start Cerulean...
. It can connect to multiple IM services, such as AIM
AOL Instant Messenger
AOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997...
, ICQ
ICQ
ICQ is an instant messaging computer program, which was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Mirabilis, then bought by America Online, and since April 2010 owned by Mail.ru Group. The name ICQ is a homophone for the phrase "I seek you"...
, Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger is an instant messaging client created by Microsoft that is currently designed to work with Windows XP , Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Xbox 360, Blackberry OS, iOS, Java ME, S60 on Symbian OS 9.x and Zune HD...
, Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger is an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!...
, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger
Novell GroupWise
GroupWise is a messaging and collaborative software platform from Novell that supports email, calendaring, personal information management, instant messaging, and document management. The platform consists of the client software, which is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and the server...
, Bonjour, XMPP
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...
, and Skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
networks; as well as social network
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
s, such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
; and email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
services, such as POP3, IMAP, Gmail
Gmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
, Hotmail
Hotmail
Windows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...
and Yahoo! Mail.
Initially released July 1, 2000, as a freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
IRC client, the first commercial version (Trillian Pro 1.0) was published on September 10, 2002. The program was named after Trillian
Trillian (character)
Tricia McMillan, also known as Trillian Astra, is a fictional character from Douglas Adams' series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. She is most commonly referred to simply as "Trillian", a modification of her birth name, which she adopted because it sounded more "space-like". According to the...
, a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
by Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
. The old version of the official web site even used to have a shrine to Douglas Adams on its front page.
On August 14, 2009, the prior major release of Trillian for Windows, named Trillian Astra (4.0), was launched, along with its own Astra network. Trillian Astra has a free version, and a premium version with extra features.
On November 18, 2009, the first mobile version of Trillian was launched for iPhone. As of 2010, final builds for Android, BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
, and Apple iOS
IOS
iOS is an operating system for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and Apple TV.IOS may also refer to:-Companies and organisations:* Illinois Ornithological Society, American state-based bird club...
were available for their markets (Market
Android Market
Android Market is an online software store developed by Google for Android OS devices. Its gateway is an application program called "Market", preinstalled on most Android devices, allows users to browse and download mobile apps published by third-party developers...
, App World
BlackBerry App World
BlackBerry App World is an application distribution service and application by Research In Motion for a majority of BlackBerry devices. The service provides BlackBerry users with an environment to browse, download, and update third-party applications. The service went live on April 1, 2009...
and App Store respectively) for $4.99 USD. Trillian was initially a paid app but is now free of charge.
Trillian 5 for Windows was released in May 2011.
Connection to multiple IM services
Trillian connects to multiple instant messaging services without the need of running multiple clients. Users can create multiple connections to the same service, and can also group connections under separate identities to prevent confusion. All contacts are gathered under the same contact list. Contacts are not bound to their own IM service groups, and can be dragged and dropped freely.Trillian represents each service with a different-colored sphere. Prior versions used the corporate logos for each service, but these were removed to avoid copyright issues, although some skins still use the original icons. The Trillian designers chose a color-coding
Color code
A color code is a system for displaying information by using different colors. Color codes are often difficult for color blind and blind people to interpret....
scheme based on the underground
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
maps used by the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
that uses different colors to differentiate between different lines.
IM services
- Green And Blue for Trillian Astra Network
- Blue for Windows Live MessengerWindows Live MessengerWindows Live Messenger is an instant messaging client created by Microsoft that is currently designed to work with Windows XP , Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Xbox 360, Blackberry OS, iOS, Java ME, S60 on Symbian OS 9.x and Zune HD...
- Red for Yahoo! MessengerYahoo! MessengerYahoo! Messenger is an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!...
- Green for ICQICQICQ is an instant messaging computer program, which was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Mirabilis, then bought by America Online, and since April 2010 owned by Mail.ru Group. The name ICQ is a homophone for the phrase "I seek you"...
- Amber for AIMAOL Instant MessengerAOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997...
- Grey for IRC
- Teal and Amber for Google TalkGoogle TalkGoogle Talk is a freeware voice over Internet protocol client application offered by Google Inc. The first beta version of the program was released on August 24, 2005...
- Teal for SkypeSkypeSkype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
- Amber and Dark Gray for BonjourBonjour (software)In computing, Bonjour is Apple Inc.'s trade name for its implementation of Zeroconf, a group of technologies that includes service discovery, address assignment, and name resolution...
(Rendezvous) - Blue And Teal for FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
- Grey And Purple for MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
- Purple for Jabber/XMPPExtensible Messaging and Presence ProtocolExtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...
Mail services
- A White Envelope for POPPost Office ProtocolIn computing, the Post Office Protocol is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern...
emails - a Manila Envelope for IMAP emails
- a Teal Envelope for twitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
Prior versions of Trillian supported:
- Microsoft ExchangeMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
- Lotus SametimeLotus SametimeIBM Sametime is a client–server application and middleware platform that provides real-time, unified communications and collaboration for enterprises. Those capabilities include presence information, enterprise instant messaging, web conferencing, community collaboration, and telephony capabilities...
- Novell GroupWiseNovell GroupWiseGroupWise is a messaging and collaborative software platform from Novell that supports email, calendaring, personal information management, instant messaging, and document management. The platform consists of the client software, which is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and the server...
Messenger
Metacontact
To eliminate duplicates and simplify the structure of the contact list, users can bundle multiple contact entries for the same person into one entry in the contact list, using the Metacontact feature (similarly to Ayttm's fallback messaging feature). Subcontacts will appear under the metacontact as small icons aligned in a manner of a tree.Activity history
Trillian Pro comes with Activity History, and both log the history as both plain text files and as XMLXML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
files. Pro has a History Manager that shows the chat history and allows the user to add bookmarks for revision later on. XML-based history makes the log easy to manipulate, searchable and extendable for future functions.
Stream manipulation
Trillian Pro also has a stream manipulation feature labelled 'time travel', which allows the user to record, and subsequently review, pause, rewind, and fast forward live video and audio sessions.Instant lookup
Starting with version 3.0 in both the Basic and Pro suites, Trillian makes use of the English-language version of the WikipediaWikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
free online encyclopedia for real-time referencing using its database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
of free knowledge. The feature is employed directly within a conversation window of a user. When one or more words are entered (by either user), Trillian checks all words against a database file and if a match is found, the word appears with a dotted green underline. When users point their mouse over the word, the lead paragraph of the corresponding article is downloaded
Uploading and downloading
In computer networks, to download means to receive data to a local system from a remote system, or to initiate such a data transfer. Examples of a remote system from which a download might be performed include a webserver, FTP server, email server, or other similar systems...
from Wikipedia and displayed on screen as a tooltip
Tooltip
The tooltip or infotip is a common graphical user interface element. It is used in conjunction with a cursor, usually a mouse pointer. The user hovers the cursor over an item, without clicking it, and a tooltip may appear—a small "hover box" with information about the item being hovered...
. When users click on the underlined word, they are given the choice to visit the article online
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
.
Emotiblips
Emotiblips are the video equivalent of an emoticon. During video sessions, the user may stream a song or video to the other user in real time. One can send MP3s, WAVs, WMVs, and MPGs with this feature. QuickTime MOV files as Emotiblips are not currently supported.Hidden smileys
In version 2.0 to the current, the default emoticonEmoticon
An emoticon is a facial expression pictorially represented by punctuation and letters, usually to express a writer’s mood. Emoticons are often used to alert a responder to the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve interpretation of plain text. The word is a portmanteau word...
set contains emoticons that don't appear in the menu but can be used in conversations. Some of these are animations that can only be viewed in Trillian Pro, but all of them can be used regardless.
Skins and interfaces
Trillian has its own unique skinning engine known as SkinXML. Many skins have been developed for Trillian and they can be downloaded from the official skins gallery or deviantArtDeviantArt
deviantART is an online community showcasing various forms of user-made artwork. It was first launched on August 7, 2000 by Scott Jarkoff, Matthew Stephens, Angelo Sotira and others. deviantArt, Inc...
.
Trillian also came with an easier skinning language, Stixe, which is essentially a set of XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
Entities that simplifies repetitive codes and allows skinners to share XML and graphics in the form of emoticon packs, sound packs and interfaces.
The default skins of Trillian are designed by designHazard. Trillian Cordillera was used in Trillian 0.7x, while Trillian Whistler has been the default skin for Trillian since Pro 1.0. Small cosmetic changes were noticeable in each major release.
The Trillian Astra features a brand new design for the front-end UI, named Trillian Cordonata.
Plugins
Trillian is a closed-sourceProprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
application, but the Pro version can be extended by plugins. Plugins by Cerulean Studios itself include spell-check, weather monitor, a mini-browser (for viewing AIM profiles), Winamp
Winamp
Winamp is a media player for Windows-based PCs and Android devices, written by Nullsoft, now a subsidiary of AOL. It is proprietary freeware/shareware, multi-format, extensible with plug-ins and skins, and is noted for its graphical sound visualization, playlist, and media library features.Winamp...
song title scroller, stock exchange monitor, RSS
RSS (file format)
RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format...
feedreader, and conversation abilities for the Logitech G15 keyboard, as well as a plugin for the XMPP and Bonjour networks. Trillian 5.1 and later includes a plugin that allows you to chat and make calls on Skype without Skype being installed. Others have developed various plugins, such as a games plugin which can be used to play chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
and checkers, a protocol plugin to send NetBIOS
NetBIOS
NetBIOS is an acronym for Network Basic Input/Output System. It provides services related to the session layer of the OSI model allowing applications on separate computers to communicate over a local area network. As strictly an API, NetBIOS is not a networking protocol...
messages through Trillian, a plugin to interact with Lotus Sametime
Lotus Sametime
IBM Sametime is a client–server application and middleware platform that provides real-time, unified communications and collaboration for enterprises. Those capabilities include presence information, enterprise instant messaging, web conferencing, community collaboration, and telephony capabilities...
clients, a plugin to interact with Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
, a POP3 and IMAP email checker, or an automatic translator for many European languages to and from English.
Plugins are available for free and are hosted on the official web site, but most need Trillian Pro 2+ to run.
Early beginnings
After several internal builds, the first ever public release of Trillian, version 0.50, was available on July 1, 2000, and was designed to be an IRC client. The release was deemed 'too buggy' and was immediately pulled off the shelf and replaced by a new version 0.51 on the same day. It featured a simple Connection Manager and skinned windows.A month later, two minor builds were released with additional IRC features and bug fixes. Despite these efforts, Trillian was not popular, as reflected in the number of downloads from CNET's Download.com.
Trillian was a donateware at that time. They used PayPal
PayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....
for receiving donations through their web site.
Introduction of interoperability
Version 0.6, released November 29, 2000, represented a major change in the direction of development, when the client became able to connect to AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ and MSN Messenger simultaneously in one window.Although similar products, such as Odigo and Imici, already existed, Trillian was novel in the way that it distinguished contacts from different IM services clearly on the contact list, and it did not require registration of a proprietary account. It also did not lose connection easily like the other clients.
A month later, Yahoo! Messenger support was introduced in Trillian 0.61, and it also featured a holiday skin for Christmas. Meanwhile, the Trillian community forums were opened to the public.
During this period, new versions were released frequently, attracting many enthusiasts to the community. Skinning activity boomed and fan sites were created. A skinning contest was held on deviantArt
DeviantArt
deviantART is an online community showcasing various forms of user-made artwork. It was first launched on August 7, 2000 by Scott Jarkoff, Matthew Stephens, Angelo Sotira and others. deviantArt, Inc...
in Summer, and the winner was selected to design the default skin for the next version of Trillian. Trillian hit 100,000 downloads on August 14, 2001.
Entry into mainstream and the "IM Wars"
Contrary to the anticipation for version "0.64" in the community, the next version of Trillian was numbered 0.70. It was released December 5, 2001. Development took 5 months, considerably longer than prior builds.The new version implemented file transfer in all IM services, a feature most requested by the community at the time. It also represented a number of skin language changes. It used the contact list as the main window (as opposed to a status window 'container' in prior versions) and featured a brand new default skin, Trillian Cordillera, and an emoticon set boasting over 100 emoticons, setting a record apart from other messengers available at that time.
Version 0.71 was released on December 18, 2001. It supported AIM group chats and was the first major IM client which included the ability to encrypt messages with SecureIM
SecureIM
SecureIM is an encryption system built into the Trillian Instant Messenger Client.It encrypts messages from user-to-user, so no passively observing node between the two is supposedly able to read the encrypted messages...
.
In the following months, the number of downloads of Trillian surged, reaching 1 million on 27 January 2002, and 5 million within 6 months. Trillian received coverage and favorable reviews from mainstream media worldwide, particularly by CNET
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
, Wired Magazine and BetaNews. The lead developer and co-founder, Scott Werndorfer, was also interviewed on TechTV
TechTV
TechTV was a 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. In 2004, it merged with the G4 gaming channel which ultimately dissolved TechTV programming...
.
Trillian remained the center of attention in IM in the media for the rest of year. AOL became aware that Trillian users were able to chat with their AIM buddies without having to download the AIM client. Version 0.72 was released on January 29, 2002, and it began to suffer connection problems to AIM.
AOL blocked SecureIM access from Trillian clients. Cerulean appeared to have circumvented the block with version 0.721 of its client software, released one day later. The "AOL War" continued for the next couple weeks, with Cerulean releasing subsequent patches 0.722, 0.723 and 0.724. Trillian garnered a lot of media attention as a result, and its developers were praised by its community for their efficiency.
Trillian appeared in the Jupiter Media Metrix
Jupiter Media Metrix
Jupiter Media Metrix was created via the merger of Jupiter Communications and Media Metrix in June 2000.The Media Metrix part of Jupiter Media Metrix was subsequently sold to comScore...
Internet audience ratings in February 2002 with 344,000 unique users, and grew to 610,000 by April 2002. While those numbers are very small compared to the major IM networks, Jupiter said Trillian consistently ranks highest according to the number of average minutes spent per month.
Trillian also created a special version for Iomega
Iomega
Iomega is an American producer of consumer external, portable and networking storage hardware. Established in the 1980s, Iomega has sold more than 410 million digital storage drives and disks. On April 8, 2008, EMC Corporation announced its plans to acquire Iomega for a consideration of US $213M...
ActiveDisk.
Commercialization with Trillian Pro
On September 9, 2002 a commercial version, Trillian Pro 1.0, was released concurrently with Trillian Basic 0.74. The commercial version was sold for $25 US for a year of subscription, but all those who donated to the development of Trillian before were eligible to a year of subscription at no cost.The new version had added SMS and mobile messaging abilities, Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger is an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!...
webcam
Webcam
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
support, pop-up e-mail alerts and new plug-ins to shuttle news, weather and stock quotes directly to buddy lists.
It appeared Trillian Pro would be marketed to corporate clients looking to keep in touch with suppliers or customers via a secured, interoperable IM network, and a relatively stern user interface. The company had no venture capital backing, and had depended entirely on donations from users to stay alive.
Trillian Pro 1.0 was nominated and picked among three other nominees as the Best Internet Communication shareware in its debut year of being a "try before you buy" shareware.
On April 26, 2003, total downloads of Trillian reached ten million.
Blocking from Yahoo! and cooperation with Gaim
A few weeks after Trillian Pro 2.0 was released, Yahoo!Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
attempted to block Trillian from connecting to its service in their "efforts to implement preventative measures to protect our users from potential spammers." A few patches were released by the Trillian developers, which resolved the issue.
The Trillian developers assisted its open-source cross-platform rival Gaim
Pidgin (software)
Pidgin is an open-source multi-platform instant messaging client, based on a library named libpurple. Libpurple has support for many commonly used instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to log into various services from one application.The number of Pidgin users was estimated to be over 3...
in solving the Yahoo! connection issues. Sean Egan
Sean Egan
Sean Egan is a software engineer at Google, where he worked on Google Talk and is currently working on Google Maps. He is the former project leader of Pidgin, a popular instant messaging client. He is also the author of the book "Open Source Messaging Application Development...
, the developer of Gaim, posted in its site, "Our friends over at Cerulean Studios managed to break my speed record at cracking Yahoo! authentication schemes with an impressive feat of hackery. They sent it over and here it is in Gaim 0.70." It was later revealed that the developers were friends and had helped each other on past occasions.
Meanwhile, as Microsoft forced its users to upgrade to MSN Messenger 5.0 for upgrades in their servers for security issues, October 15, 2003 also would mark the deadline for Trillian support for MSN Messenger. However, it appeared that Cerulean Studios worked with Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
to resolve the issue on August 2, 2003, long before the deadline.
On March 7, 2004 and June 23, 2004, Yahoo! changed its instant messaging language again to prevent third-party services, such as Trillian, from accessing its service. Like prior statements, the company said the block is meant as a pre-emptive measure against spammers. Cerulean Studios released a few patches to fix the issues within a day or two.
Trillian 3 Series
In August 2004, a new official blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
was created in attempt to rebuild connections between the Studios and its customers. Trillian 3 was announced in the blog, and a sneak preview was made available to a small group of testers.
After months of beta-testing, the final build of Trillian 3 was released on December 18, 2004, with features such as new video and audio chat abilities throughout AIM, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger, an enhanced logging manager and integration with the Wikipedia online encyclopedia. It also featured a clean and re-organized user interface and a brand new official web site.
The release also updated the long-abandoned Trillian Basic .74 to match the new user interface and functionalities as Trillian Basic 3.0. The number of accumulated downloads of Trillian Basic in Download.com hit 20 million within a matter of weeks.
Trillian 3.1 was released February 23, 2005. It included new features such as Universal Plug and Play
Universal Plug and Play
Universal Plug and Play is a set of networking protocols for primarily residential networks without enterprise class devices that permits networked devices, such as personal computers, printers, Internet gateways, Wi-Fi access points and mobile devices to seamlessly discover each other's presence...
(UPnP) and multiple identities support.
On June 10, 2011, all instances of Trillian 3 Basic got an automatic upgrade to Trillian 3 Pro, free of charge.
U3 and Google Pack
Trillian was made available for U3U3
U3 was a joint venture between SanDisk and M-Systems , producing a proprietary method of launching Windows applications from special USB flash drives. Flash drives adhering to the U3 specification are termed "U3 smart drives"....
USB flash drives on October 21, 2005, despite Trillian Anywhere making Trillian portable long before then, through small file modifications. A U3
U3
U3 was a joint venture between SanDisk and M-Systems , producing a proprietary method of launching Windows applications from special USB flash drives. Flash drives adhering to the U3 specification are termed "U3 smart drives"....
version of Trillian Astra is also posted on the official Cerulean Studios
Cerulean Studios
Cerulean Studios is a software house based in Connecticut, United States, notable for developing Trillian, an instant messaging client.It was founded in May 1998 by Kevin Kurtz and Scott Werndorfer. While still living at his parent's home, Werndorfer used $10,000 of his savings to start Cerulean...
forum.
On January 6, 2006, Larry Page
Larry Page
Lawrence "Larry" Page is an American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Sergey Brin, is best known as the co-founder of Google. As of April 4, 2011, he is also the chief executive of Google, as announced on January 20, 2011...
, President of Products at Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, announced Google Pack
Google Pack
Google Pack was a collection of software tools offered by Google to download in a single archive. It was announced at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show, on January 6. Google Pack is currently only available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7...
, a bundle of various applications including Trillian Basic 3.0 as "a free collection of safe, useful software from Google and other companies that improves the user experience online and on the desktop".
"We're very excited for Trillian to be included in Google Pack, as we at Cerulean Studios have always been very focused on giving end-users the highest quality experience possible," said Scott Werndorfer, Co-founder, Cerulean Studios. "We believe this goal aligns Trillian perfectly with Google Pack."
The inclusion of Trillian in Google Pack was perplexing to some media analysts as Google has its own Google Talk
Google Talk
Google Talk is a freeware voice over Internet protocol client application offered by Google Inc. The first beta version of the program was released on August 24, 2005...
service, which touts the benefits of an open IM system and the free Trillian Basic client cannot be used with Google Talk. Trillian Pro is also included as one of the "client choices" in Google Talk's client choices list.
According to the Cerulean Studios blog, Trillian was discontinued from Google Pack on 19 May 2006.
Trillian Astra (Trillian 4)
Trillian Astra is available on Microsoft Windows, Web, Android, BlackBerry OS
BlackBerry OS
BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system, developed by Research In Motion for its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices...
, and iOS. As of August 2010, the Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
version was in beta testing.
Trillian 5
On August 2, 2010, Trillian 5.0 was released as a public beta. Newer features included a resize-able interface, History synchronization, a new ribbonRibbon (computing)
In GUI-based application software, a ribbon is an interface where a set of toolbars are placed on tabs in a tab bar. Recent releases of some Microsoft applications have embraced this form with a modular ribbon as their main interface. The Ribbon is a contextual interface that offers functionality...
inspired interface with Windows theme integration, new "marble-like" icons for service providers, the option to revert to the Trillian 3 & 4 interfaces, and a new social network interface window were introduced. Along with Trillian 5.0 For Windows and the aforementioned Mac beta. As of 2010, the Android and BlackBerry OS final builds were available on their respective markets for free.
OpenCandy
Included with the installation of Trillian 5.0 is a program called OpenCandyOpenCandy
OpenCandy is a company based in San Diego that produces an advertising software module consisting of a Microsoft Windows library that can be incorporated in a Windows installer...
, which some security programs, including Microsoft Security Essentials, class as adware
Adware
Adware, or advertising-supported software, is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer. These advertisements can be in the form of a pop-up. They may also be in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during...
.
See also
- List of XMPP clients
- Comparison of instant messaging clientsComparison of instant messaging clientsThe following tables compare general and technical information for a number of instant messaging clients. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date...
- Comparison of IRC clientsComparison of IRC clientsThe following tables compare general and technical information between a number of IRC client programs. Please see the individual products articles for further information.- General :...
- Comparison of instant messaging protocols