Trillian

Trillian is an instant messenger that allows using multiple chat services, as GTalk, Jabber, Yahoo, AOL, Bonjour, ICQ, IRC and FourSquare.

Besides, it completely integrates with Twitter to let you publish and read tweets, and not only that, it also shows desktop notifications of new posts. If you use choose to use a Jabber-like service, the program allows connecting not only to jabber.com but also to any other server using the same protocol.

The program interface is actually very similar to those of other messengers, which let you configure accounts and use the services with ease. I wouldn’t say that the interface is unattractive, but in my opinion, it will look much better when a more contemporary design is used. Fortunately, there are various skins to choose from, and some others can be downloaded from the developers’ site.

When you’re using the chat feature, Trillian can synchronize local info with remote data, like old messages and photographs, which is quite useful when you’re using a different service and don´t want to lose old conversations. Besides, if you are kind of careless when typing, you’ll be glad to know that Trillian has a built-in spellchecker. Moreover, the program is not limited to supporting text-based chatting as it also allows communicating by video conference. In this case, you can pick one of the installed cameras and even choose a video quality that suits the available bandwidth. In addition, this messenger has an interesting feature that allows voice or text chatting while you’re playing. Trillian can also be used as a mail client because it allows connecting using both IMAP and POP3 protocols. Finally, another supported service is file transference provided the server you’re connected to allows it. Generally speaking, the application is highly customizable and it even supports additional features by installing plugins.

Compared with other successful chat clients, such as Pidgin and Pandion, Trillian is more versatile as it allows emailing and having a video conference. As to chatting, there’s not much difference among them, except that Trillian doesn’t allow connecting to a local XMPP server unless you open a Trillian account. Another difference that could be decisive is that while Pidgin and Pandion are freeware, Trillian is shareware.