Flickr Search Connector created by Long Zheng extends Windows 7’s capabilities with combining two components: the Open Search Description File Generator (known as “Search Connector on Windows 7) and Flickr web service. This was implemented using open standards of Open RSS and RSS2, making it easy for other developers to create their own search tie-ins as well. “Search Federation” enables the Windows 7 to search remote document repositories such as Flickr through the native Windows search interface. You can easily preview, set as a desktop background, print, send to and even edit your images.

You can search Flickr photos from everybody, yourself or a specific user. You can also access photos directly within the shell. This search connector is tested only in Windows 7 M3 build 6801, but supports all Windows 7 builds above 6801. If you want to know what makes searching within the shell cool, it means you are interacting directly with the file. It’s little clunky in the M3 build 6801, but even still you can double click a picture to open it in larger view or set it as your background. Preview pan in Windows 7 Explorer makes browsing quick and easy without pushing the back button.