Welcome to the first Minimal Comparison, Where we compare 2 common applications (usually 1 proprietary, one open source) and give you each one’s pros and cons. First up, Trillian vs Miranda – two very popular instant messengers, Trillian being proprietary (and shareware), and Miranda being open source (and freeware).
Trillian
Trillian has been around for quite a while. It’s main pros include:
- The obvious, multiple protocols
- Skinability
- Lots of eye candy (iconic options dialog, etc)
- Tabbed chat containers
- User friendly
Let’s go through each one of these. First, multiple protocols. While Trillian does support AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ, and IRC, it could do a lot better. The fastest growing protocol today is Jabber, which is also what Google Talk uses. Most modern messaging clients such as Gaim (now Pidgin), Miranda, etc have support for Jabber – but unfortunately only Trillian Pro supports it.
Second, Skinability. Trillian does have some great skins, but it is a bit annoying to not have it integrate into your environment. There is no option to force it to use windows colors, or even disable skinning.
Third, eye candy. Sure, eye candy is fine, but really, too much of it is just unnecessary bulk. I was a hardcore Trillian user until I found Miranda. One of the most annoying features IMO was the options interface. I’ve never been fond of huge iconic control panels in several categories. Oh well, probably all a matter of opinion.
Fourth we have tabbed chat containers. Probably unnecessary to mention, since most modern instant messengers today have them. Trillian’s tab functionality could be a lot better though, and a lot more flexible, like Miranda.
Another “feature” you should be aware about is that Trillian 4 hogs about 10 mb more RAM (this is plugin-less) than Miranda with several plugins loaded. ’nuff said. 
Miranda
I’ve been using Miranda ever since I left Trillian, without fail. I have never thought once about switching to Pidgin, or the like. Nothing can beat Miranda’s functionality without sacrificing speed and usability. Let’s talk about a few of the many features that Miranda boasts:
- Extremely fast
- Support for Jabber
- Developed constantly and rapidly (no need to wait years for another release)
- Extremely customizable
- Lightweight
Don’t take my word for it that Miranda is faster than Trillian. Try it yourself. And don’t let the default look scare you away. I was also intimidated by it when I first got it, but as soon as I found out I was in complete control, I was hooked. If you’re a first time user, here are a few plugins that are essential:
- Scriver - minimal, tabbed chat module with only the essentials, but it certainly can look good, too.
- Clist nicer – as the title suggests, it’s a much nicer contact list, and much less bulky than clist modern. Clist modern is fine if you prefer eye candy and 5 billion buttons.
- IEView + SmileyAdd – Not necessary, but they add a nice kick to the look and feel. IEView actually lets you use HTML and CSS to customize your message log any way you want (or just download a pre-made style!), and SmileyAdd lets you have smilies.
One of my favorite features of Clist Nicer (IIRC, clist modern also has this functionality) is the ability to float frames. Frames are essentially the individual components that make up your contact list. For example, you could have your My Contacts frame float and remain title-less, so you could have a handy little bar in an unobtrusive area of the screen to always have your contacts at your fingertips. Not only that, you can download other frames from the addons site, such as My Details, which allows you to have that Trillian-like panel at the top of your contact list for quick access to status and nick changes, and more.
All in all, Miranda clearly wins in all areas – speed, functionality, and good looks. Got questions? Feel free to ask here, or at #miranda. 
