When comparing Splashtop vs Remote Desktop Connection, the Slant community recommends Remote Desktop Connection for most people. In the question“What are the best ways to share your screen with others?” Remote Desktop Connection is ranked 10th while Splashtop is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose Remote Desktop Connection is:
If you're on Windows XP or later, Remote Desktop Connection is already installed on your machine.
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Pros
Pro Gesture support
There's gestures support on mobile devices for easier navigation.
Pro Cross-platform
Available for iOS, Android, Windows, OS X and Linux.
Pro Part of Windows
If you're on Windows XP or later, Remote Desktop Connection is already installed on your machine.
Pro Cross-platform
Works on Windows, OS X, iOS and Android.
Cons
Con Too many variations of clients and servers (apps) and paid subscriptions to choose from for different scenarios
There's a host of downloads involved. It shouldn't be so complex to decide what software to download because of their respective services or featuresets. It should just be one client and one server with options to turn on or off different feature sets.
Con Not available in the Home edition (only as clients)
Con It's not for screen sharing, but for remote management
Microsoft Remote Desktop is developed for mostly enterprise users for remote control, not to share the screen with a friend. It lacks firewall support, and is much more complicated to setup properly than some other apps, designed for fast and easy sharing.