Colloquy is a free IRC, SILC and ICB client for Mac OS X. It is a nice solution for those who want to connect to servers of any of those protocols from a Mac computer. The application isn't that different than mIRC for Windows. It does look way better than mIRC in my opinion, but the windows that are used serve similar purposes. For example, you can access a Console window that serves the same purpose as the Status window on mIRC.
Colloquy has a nice feature list. It is an open-source project which can be improved via the use of plug-ins. It has support for Apple Scripts, so if you know how to code using that, you can create your own plug-ins. By default, this IRC client is standard and doesn't have any special features. There is support for DCC file transfers which can be resumed. You can add emoticons to your conversations and add IRC friends to your buddy list.
In actual usage, Colloquy hasn't disappointed me. Every time I needed to go on IRC, I have used it and it has worked great. I don't miss mIRC at all when I know I have Colloquy on my Mac.
The application has a very native feel to it and I found it to be stable and customizable.
v2.4 [Mar 27, 2012]
- Fullscreen support
- SASL Support
- Tab completion for room names
- Badge icon on dock for unread highlights and private messages
- Timestamps display local time on Lion
- Support Growl on 64bit systems and Growl 1.3
- Fixes a crash when closing windows
- Fixes excess flood issues on Freenode
- Handle netsplits better
- Right clicking on chat will act on the room that is clicked on, not the room that is open
- When prompting the user for a NickServ password of a nick other than the preferred nick, identify to the current nickname.
- Remove duplicate "search in google" menu item
- Ability to have a custom download folder instead of using Safari's download folder
- Keep nickname authentication window on top when joining a channel
- Use less memory and CPU
- Colloquy now requires 10.7 and a 64-bit Intel machine
- Python plugins now require Python 2.5 as a minimum, instead of Python 2.3
