It also might introduce a few bugs which are present in previous protocols (don't know if they exist though; just theory). I would favor the current patching route.
Although it might be possible if there is a flag for it in the "Client Capabilities" (don't know any recent/more up-to-date site). So that your client shows it can't receive pictures with Photo Sharing, but while retaining the client protocol otherwise. Dunno if that would be possible though.