I am using the testversion of Steamfrieds now and its fine.
Long time ago this feature wokrs and its back!
To activate the BETA following the instructions:
Edit your steam command line:
steam.exe -clientbeta steam3friends -beta steam3friends
Now close and restart steam.
Now you will notice that STEAM is updating itself.
When its done you can use the friendlist again.
www.sk-gaming.com/scene/9444/
I think this feature is very nice again :)