Mike over at Techcrunch has an article today about how Yahoo is launching their Yahoo! Video offer and how disappointing it is that they didn’t integrate video with Flickr instead of launching this new product. Now, that isn’t disappointing at all - it’s a god damn relief. Here’s why.

Online video is still a slipperly slope. No one knows how they should do it yet. Youtube seems to be the most successful model so far but still has huge issues - which I’ll talk about in a future article. Other players (and they’re countless) are still experimenting with delivery methods, how to organize the information, how to catalogue it, etc. There’s a problem to be solved in online video sharing, organizing and searching.

Flickr on the other hand doesn’t have a problem - it just works. It has users, it is successful, it is the only (and I really do mean the only) web application for which I’ve paid for thus far, and it keeps on growing. Bringing in the video-problem jello to Flickr would create chaos and a lot of confusion among its users. Why should a service have both photos and videos if it suits its purpose just fine as it is? Photos are the reason Flickr has its name.

Now, there is no indication that the two products (Flickr and Yahoo! Video) will ever be integrated. Mike just said he was disappointed - and I’m saying I’m not disappointed at all. To each his own opinion, but I’d prefer integration came after both kinds of media (photos and video) had their organization and delivery problems solved.