Microsoft’s Silverlight is one of those platforms that most people have heard about but never found a good use for as a user. The platform itself was originally supposed to be Microsoft’s answer to Adobe’s Flash. But then Adobe released AIR. What does Silverlight compete against now? I have no idea. You be the judge.
For most people, the only time Silverlight found a good legitimate use was on Microsoft’s own web site. If you’ve surfed around the microsoft.com domain enough, you’ve most likely ran into instances where the browser said "Best viewed with Silverlight" or something to that effect. If using Internet Explorer (of course) and Silverlight, yes it does make using microsoft.com easier. But that’s not enough of a reason to keep Silverlight installed.
Then I hear about this thing from Microsoft that’s an actual standalone client for Facebook, as in an app you can run off the desktop that will login to Facebook and utilize its features. And no, this is not some tiny-browser-in-an-app thing. This is a real true-blue app. On Silverlight no less.
(And by the way, it’s not Windows-only – it’s also for Mac OS X!)
I downloaded, installed and tried it out.
Here’s my report on it.
The Good
This Silverlight client does the one thing you wish the Facebook interface did – be easy to use. Seriously, it is. If Facebook’s interface were designed like Microsoft’s client is, nobody would complain about how bad the Facebook experience is.
Simple drag-and-drop for photos, the ability to sort your friends by letter (I know, so simple yet so awesome), absolutely zero learning curve whatsoever, no need to hunt around for specific functions.. it’s just all right there. So easy. So intuitive.
Yes, I know, I’m glowing over this. But if you use Facebook at all, you know how much their interface sucks. Nobody says it’s good. The Silverlight client on the other hand is.
The Bad
The client is a beta and acts like one. It’s very graphical (everything fades in/out) and will not work well on slower computers. On a netbook it probably wouldn’t work at all because of how much screen real estate it uses.
There are also no options to change how it looks. Some fonts are too big while others too small. And some may not go for the white-on-black look.
The Ugly
The installation process isn’t good at all. First you have to install Silverlight. Then you have to restart your browser, go back to the installation page, and run another installer. Dumb.
Why is this dumb? Using Adobe AIR as an example, if you want to install an AIR app but don’t have AIR installed, the process will actually do both in succession without you having to reopen anything. That’s easy. The installation for Silverlight and the Facebook app doesn’t do that without manually restarting the browser, unless you already have Silverlight installed.
This app is also a memory muncher. On my 32-bit Windows 7 it uses around 90,000 K in system resource according to the Task Manager when just sitting there. Periodically it will go over 110,000 but at least it "knows" enough to release memory to go back down to 90,000-ish.
Then again as most Facebook users are aware, when using the Facebook site itself, that is also a big memory hog for your browser and can use just as much memory if not more.
Verdict
Even with its flaws, this is definitely a killer app for the Silverlight platform, no question. You actually have a reason to install and use it just to get this client – if you use Facebook that is. The installation plops a nice easy shortcut icon on the desktop for quick access (or not, it’s an option), it doesn’t require the opening of the browser to use, it’s easy to use and the best part is that yes, it is better than the Facebook interface.
Whether you’re using Windows or Mac, if you’re a Facebook user, you owe it to yourself to try it. Remember however that it’s a beta. And although I typically do not recommend using beta software, this client is good enough to get two huge thumbs up from me.
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