I have to agree with webdevil to a certain extent. While I don't think creating an entirely new mIRC program (such as mIRC Lite) would work, maybe creating a setup wizard from inside mIRC could help attract potential users that always wish that mIRC explained only the basics first. (I thought most programs had startup wizards anyway?)
I used to run a mIRC help channel on christianlinks. A lot of new users used java clients, and to me, it was amazing how most that stopped by at some time or another wanted to upgrade to mIRC.
Almost every single time they asked about mIRC it would always be "how do I connect to a server?" This is probably common knowledge, but not everyone is a genius when it comes to something like mIRC and it not as simple as it seems - at least to new users.
Back to the setup wizard thing - I think it would be nice for mIRC to give the new user a friendly alternative to using it. Almost every person I've talked to in regards to mIRC will label it as "frusterating" and will sometimes say that they "..might as well use java or an IM". It kind of disappoints me because they are really missing out on an excellent chat client..
