itsnihir, writing Flickr’s help forum:

In preparation for launching our new login system, we’re beginning the rollout today of the new Flickr login page. This will take some time, so hang tight if you don’t see it immediately — it’s coming!

For now, the login page will still forward you over to Yahoo, where you’ll continue to use the same credentials as always to sign into your Flickr account. The next step in the process will take a few weeks — we’ll let each member know when it’s time to choose the email address and password you’ll use to log in to Flickr.

I’ve had my eye on Flickr since it was acquired by SmugMug last year. I’ve been using Google Photos as a repository our family photos for a couple of years now, but I’ve never been in love with the idea of handing over so much data to Google. Unfortunately, though, there just wasn’t anything more appealing. iCloud won’t let multiple users backup to a single family library and all other service seem to have pretty mediocre backup apps.

I have quite taken the plunge toward using Flickr as my primary backup service, but moving away from Yahoo logins is a reassuring sign that things are improving. Om Malik started using the service and seems to be quite happy with it so far, Shawn Blanc has followed, and Nick Heer is considering purchasing Pro again. There are signs of life and people are noticing.

I don’t know if Flickr will every be as big as Instagram, but if they can build a solid business around a good photo backup service and a small community of dedicated users, I would consider that a raving success.

(Via Michael Tsai.)