Editing Trillian (software) (section)

== History ==
{{update|date=March 2019}}

=== Early beginnings ===
After several internal builds, the first ever public release of Trillian, version ''0.50'', was available on July 1, 2000, and was designed to be an IRC client. The release was deemed 'too buggy' and was immediately pulled off the shelf and replaced by a new version ''0.51'' on the same day. It featured a simple Connection Manager and skinned windows.

A month later, two minor builds were released with additional IRC features and bug fixes. Despite these efforts, Trillian was not popular, as reflected in the number of downloads from CNET's Download.com.{{Citation needed|date=July 2007}}

Trillian was a [[donateware]] at that time. They used [[PayPal]] for receiving donations through their web site.

=== Introduction of interoperability ===
Version ''0.6'', released November 29, 2000, represented a major change in the direction of development, when the client became able to connect to AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ and MSN Messenger simultaneously in one window.

Although similar products, such as  [[Odigo]] and [[Imici]], already existed, Trillian was novel in the way that it distinguished contacts from different IM services clearly on the contact list, and it did not require registration of a proprietary account. It also did not lose connection easily like the other clients.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}

A month later, Yahoo! Messenger support was introduced in Trillian ''0.61'', and it also featured a holiday skin for Christmas. Meanwhile, the Trillian community forums were opened to the public.

During this period, new versions were released frequently, attracting many enthusiasts to the community. Skinning activity boomed and fan sites were created. A skinning contest was held on [[deviantArt]] in Summer, and the winner was selected to design the default skin for the next version of Trillian. Trillian hit 100,000 downloads on August 14, 2001.

=== Entry into mainstream and the "IM Wars" ===
Contrary to the anticipation for version "0.64" in the community, the next version of Trillian was numbered ''0.70''. It was released December 5, 2001. Development took five months, considerably longer than development of prior builds.

The new version implemented file transfer in all IM services, a feature most requested by the community at the time. It also represented a number of skin language changes. It used the contact list as the main window (as opposed to a status window 'container' in prior versions) and featured a brand new default skin, ''Trillian Cordillera'', and an emoticon set boasting over 100 emoticons, setting a record apart from other messengers available at that time.

Version ''0.71'' was released on December 18, 2001. It supported AIM group chats and was the first major IM client which included the ability to encrypt messages with SecureIM.

In the following months, the number of downloads of Trillian surged, reaching 1 million on 27 January 2002, and 5 million within 6 months. Trillian received coverage and favorable reviews from mainstream media worldwide, particularly by [[CNET]], ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'' and [[BetaNews]]. The lead developer and co-founder, Scott Werndorfer, was also interviewed on [[TechTV]].

AOL became aware that Trillian users were able to chat with their AIM buddies without having to download the AIM client, and on January 28, 2002, AOL blocked SecureIM access from Trillian clients.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/01/31/aol_blocks_trillian_im_access/|title = AOL blocks Trillian IM access|website = [[The Register]]}}</ref> Cerulean appeared to have circumvented the block with version ''0.721'' of its client software, released one day later. This "AOL War" continued for the next couple of weeks, with Cerulean releasing subsequent patches ''0.722'', ''0.723'' and ''0.724''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geek.com/news/aol-vs-trillian-continues-548381/ |title=AOL vs. Trillian continues &#124; News &#124; Geek.com |access-date=2016-09-09 |archive-date=2016-09-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918001136/http://www.geek.com/news/aol-vs-trillian-continues-548381/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Trillian appeared in the [[Jupiter Media Metrix]] Internet audience ratings in February 2002 with 344,000 unique users, and grew to 610,000 by April 2002. While those numbers are very small compared to the major IM networks, Jupiter said Trillian consistently ranks highest according to the number of average minutes spent per month.<ref>[http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/1432611 Internet News article] on Trillian usage</ref>

Trillian also created a special version for [[Iomega]] [[ActiveDisk]].

=== Commercialisation with Trillian Pro ===
On September 9, 2002, a commercial version, ''Trillian Pro 1.0'', was released concurrently with ''Trillian Basic 0.74''. The commercial version was sold for $25 US for a year of subscription, but all those who donated to the development of Trillian before were eligible to a year of subscription at no cost.

The new version had added SMS and mobile messaging abilities, [[Yahoo! Messenger]] [[webcam]] support, pop-up e-mail alerts and new plug-ins to shuttle news, weather and stock quotes directly to buddy lists.

It appeared Trillian Pro would be marketed to corporate clients looking to keep in touch with suppliers or customers via a secured, interoperable IM network, and a relatively stern user interface. The company had no venture capital backing, and had depended entirely on donations from users to stay alive.

Trillian Pro 1.0 was nominated and picked among three other nominees as the Best Internet Communication shareware in its debut year of being a "try before you buy" shareware.<ref>[http://www.sic.org/2003nominees.asp Trillian nomination] for Best Internet Communication Software, 2003  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202215924/http://www.sic.org/2003nominees.asp |date=February 2, 2007 }}</ref>

On April 26, 2003, total downloads of Trillian reached ten million.<ref>[http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36021&perpage=30&highlight=trillian%20hits%20downloads&pagenumber=3 Cerulean Studios] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928025704/http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36021&perpage=30&highlight=trillian%20hits%20downloads&pagenumber=3 |date=2011-09-28 }} announcement of 10 millionth download</ref>

=== Blocking from Yahoo! and cooperation with Gaim ===
A few weeks after ''Trillian Pro 2.0'' was released, [[Yahoo!]] attempted to block Trillian from connecting to its service<ref>[http://news.cnet.com/2100-1032_3-5245821.htmll CNet article] on Yahoo blocking Trillian access{{dead link|date=September 2010}}</ref> in their "efforts to implement preventative measures to protect our users from potential spammers." A few patches were released by the Trillian developers, which resolved the issue.

The Trillian developers assisted its open-source cross-platform rival [[Pidgin (software)|Gaim]] in solving the Yahoo! connection issues. [[Sean Egan]], the developer of Gaim, posted in its site, "Our friends over at Cerulean Studios managed to break my speed record at cracking Yahoo! authentication schemes with an impressive feat of hackery. They sent it over and here it is in Gaim 0.70." It was later revealed that the developers were friends and had helped each other on past occasions.<ref>[https://archive.today/20070706050734/http://www.linux.com/feature/31728 Linux.com Gaims IM services play] on cooperation between Cerulean and Gaim</ref>

Meanwhile, as Microsoft forced its users to upgrade to MSN Messenger 5.0 for upgrades in their servers for security issues,<ref>[https://archive.today/20120713134549/http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5066412.html?tag=techdirt Microsoft upgrades to MSN Messenger 5.0]</ref> October 15, 2003 also would mark the deadline for Trillian support for MSN Messenger. However, it appeared that Cerulean Studios worked with [[Microsoft]]<ref>[http://forums.ceruleanstudios.com/showthread.php?t=41209?tag=Cerulean Studios released patch on forums before server changes happened in MSN Messenger] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035709/http://forums.ceruleanstudios.com/showthread.php?t=41209%3Ftag%3DCerulean |date=2016-03-04 }}</ref> to resolve the issue on August 2, 2003, long before the deadline.

On March 7, 2004, and June 23, 2004, Yahoo! changed its instant messaging language again to prevent third-party services, such as Trillian, from accessing its service. Like prior statements, the company said the block is meant as a pre-emptive measure against spammers.<ref>[https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/yahoo-to-trillian-talk-to-the-hand/ CNet article] on Yahoo! Messenger language change</ref> Cerulean Studios released a few patches to fix the issues within a day or two.

=== Trillian 3 Series ===

In August 2004, a new official [[blog]] was created in attempt to rebuild connections between the Studios and its customers. Trillian 3 was announced in the blog, and a sneak preview was made available to a small group of testers.

After months of beta-testing, the final build of Trillian 3 was released on December 18, 2004, with features such as new video and audio chat abilities throughout AIM, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger, an enhanced logging manager and integration with the Wikipedia online encyclopedia. It also featured a clean and re-organized user interface and a brand new official web site.

The release also updated the long-abandoned ''Trillian Basic .74'' to match the new user interface and functionalities as ''Trillian Basic 3.0''. The number of accumulated downloads of Trillian Basic in Download.com hit 20 million within a matter of weeks.

''Trillian 3.1'' was released February 23, 2005. It included new features such as [[Universal Plug and Play]] (UPnP) and multiple identities support.

On June 10, 2011, all instances of Trillian 3 Basic got an automatic upgrade to Trillian 3 Pro, free of charge.

=== U3 and Google Pack ===
A version of Trillian that could run on [[U3 (software)|U3]] USB flash drives was released on October 21, 2005. Trillian could previously be run from generic flash drives or other storage devices with some minor unofficial modifications, known as "Trillian Anywhere".<ref>[http://trilliananywhere.com/ Trillian Anywhere web site]</ref> A [[U3 (software)|U3]] version of Trillian Astra is also posted on the official Cerulean Studios forum.

On January 6, 2006, [[Larry Page]], President of Products at [[Google]], announced [[Google Pack]], a bundle of various applications including ''Trillian Basic 3.0'' as "a free collection of safe, useful software from Google and other companies that improves the user experience online and on the desktop".

According to the Cerulean Studios blog, Trillian was discontinued from Google Pack on 19 May 2006.<ref>[http://blog.ceruleanstudios.com/?p=47 Cerulean blog] entry on Trillian discontinuation from [[Google Pack]]</ref>

The inclusion of Trillian in Google Pack was perplexing to some media analysts as Google had at the time its own [[Google Talk]] service which touted the benefits of an open IM system. The free Trillian Basic client could not be used with Google Talk, however, the paid Trillian Pro was listed as one of the "client choices" in the Google Talk client choices list<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130131152211/https://www.google.com/talk/otherclients.html List of Google Talk client choices]</ref> until Google Talk was replaced by Google Hangouts in May 2013.<ref>[https://support.google.com/code/answer/55690 Hangouts replacement of Google Talk and XMPP]</ref>

=== Trillian Astra (Trillian 4) ===

<!-- Astra is now release software so I am remarking the beta tag: {{beta software}} -->

More than a year after the release of ''Trillian 3.1'', the Cerulean Studios blog began spreading news again and announced the next version of Trillian, to be named ''Trillian Astra''.  The name for version 4, ''Astra'', is the nickname used by the same fictional character that is the namesake of the software, which is a reference to [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]. The new release claimed to be faster and include a new login screen. A new domain, www.trillianastra.com, was disclosed to the public, with only the logo and blue background. On July 3, 2009, Cerulean Studios reopened the premium web version of Astra to public testing. On August 14, 2009, Cerulean Studios released the final gold build.<ref>[http://blog.ceruleanstudios.com/?p=537 Cerulean Studios’ Blog » Blog Archive » Trillian Astra!]</ref> Trillian has its own social network named Astra Network, in which users who have Astra ID can communicate with each other on the network regardless of platform.  Cerulean Studios later registered a new domain, www.trillian.im, to provide a more user-friendly experience.

On November 18, 2009, the first mobile version of Trillian was launched for iPhone. As of 2010, final builds for [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[BlackBerry]], and [[IOS|Apple iOS]] were available for their markets ([[Android Market|Market]], [[BlackBerry App World|App World]] and [[App Store (iOS)|App Store]] respectively). Trillian initially cost US$4.99 but became free of charge, supported by ads, in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.trillian.im/?p=2166 |title=Trillian 1.6 for iPhone: Now free of charge. |work=Cerulean Studios’ Blog |date=2011-06-08 |access-date=2014-01-23 }}</ref>

As of August 2010, the [[Mac OS X]] version was in beta testing.

=== Trillian 5 ===
{{Update|section|date=September 2014}}

On August 2, 2010, Trillian 5.0 was released as a public beta. Newer features included a resize-able interface, History synchronization, a new [[ribbon (computing)|ribbon]] inspired interface with Windows theme integration, new "marble-like" icons for service providers, the option to revert to the Trillian 3 & 4 interfaces, and a new social network interface window were introduced. Along with Trillian 5.0 For [[Windows]] and the aforementioned Mac beta. As of 2010, the Android and BlackBerry OS final builds were available on their respective markets for free.

==== OpenCandy ====
Included with the installation of Trillian 5.0 was a program called [[OpenCandy]],<ref>{{citation|title=Trillian for Windows: Status Update!|date=Nov 1, 2010|publisher=Cerulean Studios
|url=http://blog.trillian.im/?p=1736|access-date=2011-08-21}}</ref> which some security programs, including [[Microsoft Security Essentials]], classed as [[adware]].<ref>{{citation|title=Adware:Win32/OpenCandy|date=Apr 17, 2011|publisher=Microsoft Corporation|url=https://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Threat/Encyclopedia/Entry.aspx?name=Adware%3aWin32%2fOpenCandy&threatid=159633|access-date=2011-08-21}}</ref>  OpenCandy was removed shortly after on May 5, 2011.

=== Trillian 6 ===
{{Update|section|date=April 2019}}

On January 8, 2016, Trillian 6 was released.

=== Loss of networks ===
Trillian has stopped attempting to work around the systems to make their client work with other networks.  They have also not done any development to integrate support for any of the newer networks.  Instead they urge people to use their own IM service instead.
* As Yahoo! has decided to shut down the legacy [[Yahoo! Messenger|Yahoo Messenger]] clients and servers, Trillian and all other clients are no longer able to connect to Yahoo! Messenger as of August 31, 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://trillian.im/help/user/yahoo-messenger/|title = Yahoo Messenger on Trillian}}</ref>
* As AOL has decided to shut down the [[AIM (software)|AIM]] network, Trillian, and all other clients are no longer able to connect to AIM as of December 15, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://trillian.im/help/user/aim/|title = AIM on Trillian}}</ref>
* As [[ICQ]] has decided to disable support for third party IM clients, Trillian is no longer able to connect to ICQ as of April 1, 2019.  The ICQ service was shut down on June 26, 2024.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.trillian.im/help/user/icq/|title = ICQ on Trillian}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://uk.pcmag.com/mobile-apps/152479/icq-one-of-the-oldest-instant-messengers-is-shutting-down|title=ICQ, One of the Oldest Instant Messengers, Is Shutting Down|first=Michael|last=Kan|date=May 24, 2024|website=pcmag.com}}</ref>
* [[Windows Live Messenger|MSN IM]] accounts were also able to be used as [[Skype]] accounts, when Microsoft Acquired Skype in 2011, but could still use the service at that time.  The service was shut down in 2013.
* As (Microsoft) [[Skype]] has decided to disable support for third party IM clients, Trillian is no longer able to connect to Skype in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://trillian.im/help/user/skype/|title = Skype on Trillian}}</ref>
* As [[Google Talk]] has shut down, Trillian is no longer able to connect to the service, as of June 16, 2022.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://trillian.im/help/user/google-talk/|title = Google Talk on Trillian}}</ref>
{{Clear}}