Google Drive will stop syncing with Google Photos in July June 12, 2019 https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/google-photos-google-drive-sync-removal/
Good step. I never comprehended why Google interconnected two separate services living each its own life.
Yeah, those brainerds! I often wonder if Google change stuff because they have nothing better to do. Maybe it's 'progress' or something. I'm rapidly becoming disenchanted with Google ... and the brainerds.
In this case they probably thought it would be convenient to interconnect stored files and photos. In some, very rare instances, yes but generally it turned out to be more rather confusing than convenient. They tried but don't succeed in the end. I wouldn't look for anything more behind it. I fully accept your stance but my experience and comparison with other similar cloud apps/services (music, docs, mails, photos etc.) ranks Google far in front of them. EDIT: Just to avoid misunderstanding I only rate the quality, performance, user-friendliness, reliability etc. of their apps/services. Obviously I have tons of objections how Google handles personal matters but that's another story.