You know, I have to be quite honest when I say that Adium was never meant for me. Some people love the customization, others love that it’s open source, but the big green duck was never cute enough to enthrall me in its myriad of customization options. While I wish Apple would step up their game and bring things such as Facebook to iChat (which in my opinion, is the most pleasurable to use), there really hasn’t been a major alternative to Adium on the Mac.
Well this is certainly changing, and new Mac users coming from Windows will be happy to know that Trillian has finally arrived in alpha.
Trillian does an excellent of job of not only porting their client to the Mac, but also giving it the proper Mac touch and feel that every application deserves. It has a completely native look with it’s own smidgen of class that makes it visually pleasurable to use. The interface is intuitive, options are simple to set up, and although it’s an alpha product, for the most part Trillian is usable enough where you might be able to get away with using it for your day to day activities (but not even being beta, use caution!).
To use Trillian, I had to create an Astra account. After a simple registration, the application presented me with it’s very grand contact window. If you’ve never had an Astra account before, the contact pane will be quite plain. In this case, it’s probably in your best interest to click the Astra icon underneath your status, and manage your accounts.
You can add a variety accounts, perhaps not as much as Adium, but it covers all the bases. AIM, Google Talk, Facebook, Yahoo Messaging, MySpace, Windows Messenger, and Bonjour chat are all available. I think for most people’s needs, this will be fine.
Once you’ve added some accounts, you might have to restart Trillian for your contacts to show up. Not a big deal (after all, this is an alpha product), but I’m just keeping you aware of what bugs I found when reviewing this program. You’ll also notice that you’ll have new account icons next to your Astra icon under your status, allowing you to take individual accounts offline, away, etc. I had a little trouble getting messages to stick, but I was able to take accounts off and online.
All of your contacts should appear under their own subsections (Facebook Chat, AIM) when online. When offline, contacts will appear grouped under the whole offline category. User avatars are large and seem to just pop out of the contacts window. I quite like it. Growl notifications are working, so you’ll see your friends dip into and out of the internet as those actions occur.
Clicking on a name, you can initiate a chat. Very similarly to iChat, when you or a friend starts typing, you’ll notice a small group of thought bubbles appear next to their avatar. Again, it’s little things like this that make me happy. While I couldn’t figure out how to change the chat bubbles (I don’t even know if you can - I wanted something more vibrant), they appear in the drab slate/graphite like colors you might be familiar with if you’ve peeked at Trillian’s icon (I hide my dock). Talking on Trillian was a pleasure, and not once did I ever drop out of the conversation.
Trillian does come with preferences, but this section is definitely not complete. You’ll have your standard privacy and notification options, along with some miscellaneous settings that are specific to each account. Proxy settings are also available, for you who sneak around the net in mysterious ways.
Those looking for an Adium alternative should be pleased by Trillian’s offerings, even in it’s alpha form. I was very impressed by just how usable this application is at this point in time, and although it’s going to be a little while before we see a final offering, I’m really looking forward to it.
You can check out Trillian’s alpha page and download your copy today.
