14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8.1 will come with updates for most of the built-in apps, including the Photos tool which previously allowed users to manage their Facebook and Flickr photos.
Starting with Windows 8.1 Preview, however, Microsoft removed support for these two particular services, making Photos pretty much a tool designed to provide you with enhanced control over the locally-stored items.
Now that Windows 8.1 is almost here, Microsoft has rolled out a blog post to discuss the improvements it made to the Photos app. As you could easily guess, still no Facebook or Flickr support. Here’s what the company said in the post:
“With the Photos app in Windows 8.1, you can edit photos both stored on your computer as well as photos stored in SkyDrive through one seamless experience. The Windows 8.1 Photos app gives you beautiful full screen photo viewing and editing across all your Windows apps and the desktop.
“The one-tap edits not only let you quickly and easily pick from a set of auto-fixes that make your photo stunning but also provides the ability to edit and enhance your photos like a professional by removing blemishes and having fine control over brightness, hue, saturation, and more.”
One of the reasons why Microsoft removed Facebook support from the Photos app is the fact that a stand-alone Facebook client is also expected to debut together with Windows 8.1, so Redmond expects most users to deploy this one too. And the same thing is very likely to happen as more apps are landing in the Windows Store.
“Now there are many apps in the store that offer ways to view photos on other services and soon there will even be a Facebook app from Facebook,” a Microsoft employee wrote on the company’s community forums in early July.