Windows IM client Trillian comes to the Mac

John Brownlee ()

Windows IM client Trillian comes to the MacAs a toddler of a Mac switcher, I still have the stray folder or two of legacy files from my days mucking through the morass of the PC experience. One of the files I’ve guarded most carefully was my old Trillian IM chat log files: four years later, and I’m still anticipating migrating in the legacy chats, spam, files and cybers of my nascent instant message years.

Looks like I now finally have the opportunity: Trillian, the popular Windows multi-protocol instant message client — is now available for the Mac in an open alpha.

And it’s ghastly. Basic IM support works well enough, but there’s a load of issues. The contact lists don’t automatically slurp in your friends’ pictures. Audio and video chat don’t work. You can’t view your logs. You can’t have group conversations. There’s no e-mail integration. The preference and customization options are slim. &c.

It’s strange to see Trillian for Mac after all these years waiting for it… and realizing that, thanks to Adium, I’ve totally moved on. Still, if you have fond memories of Trillian from back in your Windows 98 days, the somewhat unstable alpha build is a free download. But then again, so is Adium.

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About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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  • http://ihbs.co.uk Ben

    that is a shame. i was looking forward to this as i really wanted the video chat, as its not supported anywhere else

    it used to be supported in adium through a plug in called mebeam, but its no longer compatible witht he latest versions of adium

  • http://www.thisisinspired.com Derek

    I agree with you. Trillian waited too long to port to the Mac.

    When I Switched several years ago from WIndows to Macintosh I missed my Trillian – then I realized Adium was available and completely and utterly themable. For me, Trillian is dead.

    :)

  • John

    The Windows version isn’t much better. It’s been in alpha forever, and pretty much every other multi-IM client does a better job. The only piece missing from those is cam support.