Send Instant Messages Beyond Yahoo!

Send Instant Messages Beyond Yahoo!

In a world where your friends are using different instant messaging systems, speak with all of them using Trillian.

If Yahoo! Instant Messenger is your favorite way to chat with friends, ideally everyone you know would also use Yahoo! Instant Messenger. But the world isn't a perfect place, and there are many competing instant messaging applications, including AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), ICQ, Microsoft's MSN Messenger, and Apple's iChat. Unfortunately, a friend using AIM can't talk with another friend using ICQ. And neither of these friends would be able to chat with you on Yahoo! Instant Messenger. Instead of trying to convince everyone you know to switch to your favorite applicationor installing four different programsyou could switch to a universal instant messaging program: Trillian.

Cerulean Studios, the company behind Trillian, recognized this communication breakdown between instant messengers and decided to make a program that could speak with all of them. Trillian lets you chat with anyone on Yahoo!, AIM, ICQ, or MSN. It works by connecting directly with servers for each service and mimicking the messages sent from the standard messaging program. The basic version is free, and Trillian Pro offers a few more features for $25.

Trillian runs only on Windows 98 or above, so Linux and Mac users are out of luck. You'll also need an account with each service you'd like to communicate with. But to get started, you'll just need your Yahoo! ID and password.

Mac OS X users might want to try the freely available Fire application, which is similar to Trillian. You can download Fire from http://fire.sourceforge.net.

Installation and Setup

From the Cerulean Studios homepage (http://www.ceruleanstudios.com), click Downloads and then click the Download button on the next page. Because Cerulean Studios distributes the program through its partner CNet, the download link takes you to Download.com (http://www.download.com). From there, choose Download Now to get the program. Double-click the installation file to install Trillian.

When you launch Trillian for the first time, you'll see the Trillian First Time Wizard, which will step you through setting up the program. On the Choose Features page, make sure that Yahoo! Messenger is selected and click Next. When you see the "Connect to Yahoo! Messenger" page as shown in Figure, enter your Yahoo! username and password.

Trillian Yahoo! Messenger setup

If you already have a contact list in Yahoo! Instant Messenger, Trillian will get the list of contacts when it connects with Yahoo!. (Trillian will do the same for accounts on other systems as well.) If the connection works as planned, you should see a list of your contacts across instant messaging systems, as shown in Figure.

Instant messaging contacts from different platforms

The contacts are color-coded, with Yahoo! users in red. To add a Yahoo! contact at any time, choose Trillian from the top menu and then choose Add Contact or Group. From there, select Yahoo as the medium, and fill out the form you see in Figure with your friend's Yahoo! ID and a brief message.

Adding a Yahoo! contact in Trillian

You can also set up multiple Yahoo! IDs with Trillian and connect to any or all of them at once. This is handy if you have a separate account for personal and work contacts, or multiple Yahoo! IDs for different situations. To add a new Yahoo! ID at any time, choose Trillian from the top menu, then Connections Manage My Connections. Click "Add a New Connection" at the bottom of the page and then choose Yahoo. Then add a Yahoo! username and password, and Trillian will connect with that ID as well.

What You'll Miss

The Windows versions of both Yahoo! Instant Messenger and Trillian work well for sending text messages back and forth, but there are some differences between the programs you should be aware of. Unlike Yahoo! Instant Messenger, Trillian doesn't offer instant access to other Yahoo! features, such as LaunchCast, Games, Stock Quotes, Weather, and your Yahoo! Calendar and Address Book. The one notable exception is Yahoo! Mail, which Trillian will check periodically. If new mail arrives while you're using Trillian, it will display a new mail alert (like the one shown in Figure) .

Trillian new mail notification

Trillian users will also miss out on some Yahoo! Instant Messenger features, such as Audibles, which feature animated characters saying humorous phrases, and Trillian users won't see the animated avatars that show a cartoon-like representation of the chat participants.

Beyond these differences, Trillian is a great way to stay in touch with people if their favorite instant messenger isn't the same as yours.