Practicalmadness

Having used either iChat AV or Proteus (both superlative Mac-only IM clients) for my chatting needs for over a year, to be stuck back on Windows has thrown me a little bit, to put it gently. I'm back on my preferred Windows client, Trillian, which like Proteus can chat on all four major IM networks (AIM, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo), as well as good old Internet Relay Chat (IRC). While it's undoubtedly more powerful than iChat AV, and more stable and usable than recent Proteus releases, it still ain't a piece of Mac software.

One major good point: it can connect to multiple accounts on any network, so I am currently logged in using both my AIM names.

The major bad point: its sound effects are totally useless. I keep hearing a shimmering ambient kinda sound that could mean someone is coming online, or that I received an e-mail message, or that it's gonna rain. I don't know. I've just tweaked the sound scheme (using sounds from AOL) to be a little more user-friendly, but I missed three or four messages last night because there was no good way for Trillian to tell me I had them.

And what's this shit where, if I press the shiny green button, the IM window disappears into this weird-ass drawer on my buddy list, but not the Taskbar?