The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Facebook client seemingly snaffled from Windows 6.5

Socially network this

Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything

Hackers over at XDA Developers have posted a Facebook application, apparently ripped from a Windows 6.5 ROM but installable on earlier versions of Windows (mobile).

The application isn't completely stable, though it will run on a wide variety of Window Mobile devices - we tried it on an Omnia with few problems. It's branded "Facebook" rather than the kind of derivative name normally applied to third-party clients (such as SkyBook and FriendMobilizer), indicating its identity as the definitive Facebook application for the Windows formerly known as mobile.

The explosive growth of social networks has left Windows Mobile lagging behind the competition, which should be a surprise given Microsoft's investment in Facebook; but Redmond has always seen Windows Mobile as being more of a business tool, while social networks are a bit silly. Integrated clients for version 6.5 are no great surprise, but Microsoft is going to have to work harder to achieve the kind of seamless integration that Palm have been demonstrating with the Pre, or that offered by alternatives such as Fring.

The new Facebook client does attempt minimal integration - a telephone icon produces a list of Facebook "friends" who are also listed in the on-device address book, allowing the user to call them from within the client, which is an indication of how things ought to be.

Of course, none of the social networks is making money just yet, and it's not easy to see how that's going to change any time soon. Facebook may be more popular than religion right now, but unless it can generate a profit the money being poured into developing custom clients could easily be going to waste. ®

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

Latest Comments

@IGnatius T Foobar

Don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel.

0
0

Looking forward to the decline of Fecesbook

Blah. A bunch of retards from high school using a retarted operating system to connect to a retarded social networking site. I can't wait for the Fecesbook fad to finally die off. It's ANNOYING.

0
0

Windows 6.5???

Is that some kind of Vista/Windows 7 hybrid?

Or did someone miss out the word "Mobile"?

0
0

More from The Register

Bjarne Again: Hallelujah for C++
Plus: Now officially OK to admit you never used STL algorithms
Interwebs taunt Sir Jony over Apple eye candy makeover
Hey Ive, Ive... add more unicorns, willya?
SCO vs. IBM battle resumes over ownership of Unix
Zombie lawsuit back and wants to suck the brains out of Linux
Red Hat to ditch MySQL for MariaDB in RHEL 7
So long, Oracle! Don't let the door hit you on the way out
Shy? Socially inadequate? Fiddling with your phone could help
App 'tells the brutal truth' about social inadequates' chatup lines
Java EE 7 melds HTML5 with enterprise apps
New release arrives with GlassFish, NetBeans support
 breaking news
'Office Facebook' firm Tibbr wants you to PAY for mobe-meetings app
Great idea. Punters won't cough for it though
 breaking news
The only Waze is Google: Ad giant tipped to gobble map app 'for $1.3bn'
Pac-Man-satnav-ish upstart in bidding war with Apple, Facebook
 breaking news
PM Cameron calls for modern, programmable computers! (We think)
IT education musings to G8 chiefs to mystify IT industry
Apple at WWDC: Sleek new iOS, death of the big cats, pint-sized Mac Pro
CEO Cook: 'The biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone'