That's right, there is the possibility that Windows Live Photo Gallery is connected with Flickr. Last week, Microsoft introduced an upgrade to Windows Photo Gallery, the default viewing and editing application built into the operating system. The upgrade was delivered as an integer part of the new phase in the evolution of Microsoft's online suite of programs and applications, concomitantly with the availability of the unified installer for Windows Live. Windows Live Photo gallery is also a fragment of the Redmond company's puzzle vision of how its Windows Live cloud operating system will connect to the desktop client.

And in this context, Windows Live Photo Gallery was not labeled under the Windows Live brand umbrella for nothing. In fact, one of the features of the application involves streamlining the process of online photo publishing and sharing, being also available for video fragments. Windows Live Photo Gallery is one menu option away from Windows Live Spaces for photos, and from Soapbox on MSN Video for videos.

The application permits you either to build an entirely new album of photos on Windows Live Spaces or add your photographs to older albums. Still, the suggestion was put forth to Microsoft that Windows Live gallery should permit users to also publish photos on Flickr, and not limit the feature to Windows Live Spaces. "Thanks for the using Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta! We really appreciate you taking the time to send in your feedback and suggestions. We've heard the feedback and we're looking into it. Stay tuned. Thanks! Michael," was the answer Microsoft provided to this blog.

Now, Windows Live Photo Gallery is still in beta stage. And as such, it is very probable that the Redmond company will indeed add new features, capabilities and functionality to the product. Whether the new additions will permit users to upload photos directly to Flickr remains to be seen. If such a scenario had involved a partnership with Google, the probability level would have been drastically lower.

But Flickr is in essence Yahoo, and Microsoft has a long tradition or partnerships with the Sunnyvale Internet giant. Case in point: the bridge between the two companies' instant messaging clients, Yahoo Messenger and Windows Live Messenger.