Microsoft releases SDK for Facebook

Microsoft on Monday released a software development kit for Facebook that allows developers to create Facebook applications for Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation. This should expand the reach of Facebook in third-party applications as well as make Silverlight and WPF more viable platforms for developers looking to build social applications.

A screenshot showing off the NewsFeed control for WPF.

(Credit: The Silverlight Team Blog)

The SDK comes complete with samples and tools to develop Facebook applications in ASP.NET, Silverlight, WPF, and WinForms. It also features the source code for the API, components, controls, and samples.

There are currently other libraries available that allow Facebook developers to develop with other technologies, such as JavaScript, PHP, ActionScript, and the iPhone. There are a variety of others as well, which can be seen here, but these are the ones that Facebook officially provides support for.

Microsoft, as you may remember, invested $240 million in Facebook back in October 2007. Many called this move more of a strategic play to keep Google and Yahoo from getting a stake in the company. The release of this SDK is a part of Facebook and Microsoft's ongoing partnership.

If you're interested in taking a look, you can download the SDK here.

[Gold_Storm_Mac]

why use silverlight. have sl (both silverlight and snow leopard) and what's great about it. flash is garbage too.

[bananaphonerules]

Flash/Silverlight allow better graphical interfaces.
In the case of Silverlight also allows for better development by splitting UX from the backend code. i can't comment in Flash; I haven't used it recently.

[lazycat202]

if flash and silverlight are garbage, then don't sneaking around on youtube and other flash sites. gezzz!
apple dudes are so annoying!!

[Gold_Storm_Mac]

likewise

[t8]

Yuk. .net and Silverlight.
No thanks, I prefer Web tools, not Microsoft Windows extensions.

What next, an SDK release for Facebook on Mainframes?

[spaceyguy]

Ive used the older version of this and didnt get very far, but maybe its worth taking a second look now. It appears to be more complete now.

[rob_06au]

The biggest issue for me and many others is Flash is buggy as hell and there still isn't a 64bit version for either mac or windows. As for silverlight I haven't tried it as yet but will look at it for something to try and see how it goes.

I use both Macs and PC's so the flash issue is as bad on both sides for me.

[AbbydonKrafts]

I'm one of them. I have a 64-bit laptop, and I swear that the 32-bit Flash that forces me to use 32-bit browsers causes much of the lag while on the web. Flash also has a permanent memory leak. It doesn't matter who develops with it, or what the resulting Flash object is, it is guaranteed to leak if left on the screen.

[casanegro]

I thought facebook runs of top of PHP and MySQL??? Will M$ migrate it to .Net soon? Yikes!!!!

[rapier1]

Yes it does, what's your point? This is for the facebook applications - many of which are embeded flash apps.

[dalydose]

hmmm...interesting. maybe someone will make a nice Facebook app for Windows Mobile. The current "official" one bites.