Trillian News

I see many on here spouting the virtues of Trillian, so i thought this might be of interest:

People using the popular Trillian software may lose access to part of AOL Time Warner's instant messaging system.
Firing another salvo in the battle over instant messaging, America Online is blocking people using the Trillian interface from linking to its AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) system.

Trillian, which allows people to access multiple instant messaging programs from one screen, has attracted nearly a million people who are hoping to streamline their use of incompatible systems, including AOL's AIM and ICQ, Yahoo's Messenger and Microsoft's MSN Messenger.



But in the past 24 hours, an elaborate game of cat and mouse has developed between AOL and Trillian creator Cerulean Studios--as the start-up has repeatedly released new software designed to get around the block, prompting AOL to rush in and stop people from using it.

Meanwhile, Trillian fans are snared in cross fire.

"AOL is being selfish," Trillian user Mike Cicciarelli said in an instant messaging exchange with News.com.

Trillian user Chris Hilbert said he's downloaded new software several times in the past day in an attempt to re-establish access with AIM. Hilbert said he uses Trillian because it's simple.

"I like that there are no ads, less bloat," said Hilbert, an Indiana University student and creator of the FileFlash Web site. "I don't have to have four different clients open."

But AOL said it's a matter of security and is framing the conflict as yet another chapter in the instant messaging wars. In recent years, AOL has clashed with other makers of IM software, including Microsoft and AT&T. Both companies tried to create systems that let people correspond with AIM users--only to have them blocked.

"It has long been our very public policy that when a service unleashes software that hacks into our system, and endangers the security of our system, we stop it," AOL spokeswoman Kathy McKiernan said.

McKiernan said that Trillian does not have a business relationship with AOL. "To the extent that consumers think they do, they were misled," McKiernan said.

Meanwhile, the creators of Trillian plan to keep up the tit-for-tat efforts. Since AOL first started blocking the software Tuesday, they have released one workaround and at least two more full downloads of Trillian.

Michael Gartenberg, a research director at Jupiter Media Metrix, called AOL's practice "predatory," but he said at least the media behemoth is consistent in blocking both large and small companies from accessing its system.

"There are no technical reasons they can't open up IM, but there are a lot of business reasons not to," Gartenberg said. "They're not going to unless they're forced to."

News.com's Evan Hansen contributed to this report.

It seems AOL is as bad as M$ is in trying to control technology

Yea! its pretty funny, their blocking msn too

Damn these software companies act like little kids. Don't they see if the public notices what they are doing then they are less likely to use their software. Oh well let them be idiots!

Well, I support Trillian and so far I've donated 75 bucks to them in four donations because 1: I support a good product, 2: competition breeds better products, especially in software, and 3: I hate AOL/MS and will support those making programs that are better than those given out by said hated companies.

When people realize that more products will give them a better choice, maybe they'll start looking for alternatives. However, this only works if the blasted 'I've been whipped by MS and AOL' groupies actually get educated in computers and realize there's other things out there that are WAY better.

Trillian - a better chat program that supports MSN/AIM/ICQ/Yahoo/IRC and has end-to-end encryption for chat sessions when both parties use Trillian. Much better than any of the 'competitors' in my eyes and well worth donating to.

Radlight - a better, faster, smaller equivalent for WMP/Quicktime using the latest in DivX technology and supports a shiteload of video types. Playlist, volume control, skip, etc etc are just a few of the many options available. Also donated 50 bucks to them as they're three college guys working on this.

IrfanView - need I say more. Anyone who's used this has seen how much better this is than just about any major photo-editing/displaying package. Super fast and overall kickass.

Panda AV - affordable, very good (go into the AV forum for more), and fast anti-virus that's more efficient than NAV (IMHO).

Opera - nothing else to be said about this great browser. It has no competition in concern with Nutscrape or Internut Exploder because Nutscrape is owned and destroyed by AOL and IE just sucks (too many reasons, not enough buffer).

These are just a few of the many many many programs out there that are made by individuals or small groups that do a much better job than the mainstream ones (how many underground bands do you know that rock some serious ass yet aren't mainstream?) yet if they show their stuff, they either get locked down (attempted) like Trillian does if they threaten a product, bought out (ICQ anyone? Mirabilis, you *had* a great product), or consumed (reverse-engineered and put into another package for free to drive out competitor...MS anyone?).