AOL AIM Triton

November 23 2005

Looks like AOL has launched its new AOL Instant Messenger client , "Triton", at least in the US.  Intriguing that they're using an "I AM" theme for their launch messages -- hasn't that been done before?  Not just by Lotus?

Looking under the covers....new catch-up features include easier audio/video chat and file transfer; tabbed IM UI, and chat history.  The UI is cleaner and seems straightforward, though why AOL felt like they had to mess with the visuals of the existing emoticons, I don't know.  The new emoticons are ugly.  The whole UI feels a lot slower, too.

As is typical with AOL IM, a bunch of new crap was installed along with the AIM upgrade.  The main one is a slow browser shell called AOL Explorer.  I always love spending ten minutes undoing this stuff.

AOL is more heavily promoting AIM Mail as a free mail service for AIM users.  The marketing stuff emphasizes that this mail service has an "unsend" feature.  What they don't say -- it only works with other AIM Mail users.  Not real useful.

Overall a worthwhile upgrade for a few of the key features, but not a "wow".  I'm sure I'll get asked somewhere in here why I don't use Trillian or whatever.  Honestly, I'm content to have AOL IM be my only public IM service.  I'm allergic to MSN, and while I've been using Skype more, its IM features are weaker than the others.  I guess it's simply that I'm focusing on one tool and don't need the distraction of others.

Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  In the news  Add/View Comments [6]

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  1. 1  Randall Shimizu http://is-perspectives.blogspot.com/. | 11/23/2005 12:58:20 PM

    I have always found it ironic that AOL and especially MS want customers to pay for secure IM. It was quite entertaining when AOL & Yahoo tried to enter the secure IM market only to withdraw after 6 months or so. But they have opened up a market for Lotus Sametime & WP messaging of course.

    I do question whether smaller organizations should be running their own IM. To me it seems as though it should probably a hosted on demand service. I have not worked out the ROI. Any thoughts Ed..??

  1. 2  Tony  | 11/23/2005 1:01:39 PM

    come on into msn The water is Fine

  1. 3  Pete McPhedran www.corefusion.com | 11/23/2005 6:45:53 PM

    We find the hosting of Sametime to be very successful. SMB or Enterprise alike, we do a lot of ST hosting.

  1. 4  Nathan T. Freeman  | 11/24/2005 1:49:17 AM

    Using Trillian is a great way to work with multiple IM systems. But that's not the only reason to use it...

    1) Skinnable UI

    2) Greater control of what you receive, including buddy icons, font controls, etc

    3) Drastically smaller memory footprint

    4) Handy plugins for weather, etc

    5) ENCRYPTION!!!!

    6) It's not friggin America-on-Hold

  1. 5  Dave Hay  | 11/24/2005 3:25:10 AM

    Ed

    You could always use ICT "for all your IM needs".

    Works for me, anyhow

    Regards

    Dave Hay

  1. 6  Chris Miller http://www.IdoNotes.com | 11/28/2005 10:07:53 AM

    I finally got aorund to upgrading it, found a nice tidbit in the license agreement

    { Link }