[OpenID] Fwd: Memo to OpenID: Keep it simple, please

Alexandru Popescu ☀ the.mindstorm.mailinglist at gmail.com
Wed Dec 3 21:55:21 UTC 2008


Don't we already have the Google and Yahoo! UX reports? Or is this
article referring to something more than that?

I haven't used yet the Facebook Connect login form, but I am really
wondering if its simplicity is also addressing security concerns.

./alex
--
.w( the_mindstorm )p.
  Alexandru Popescu



On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 1:29 AM, David Recordon <drecordon at sixapart.com> wrote:
>
> Memo to OpenID: Keep it simple, please
> Webware.com 12/2/08 1:43 PM Caroline McCarthy
>
> With all the buzz about Facebook Connect this week, it's worth asking the
> question: Whatever happened to OpenID?
>
> The universal login standard was created in 2005 by Brad Fitzpatrick,
> founder of LiveJournal, while he was working at blog software company Six
> Apart. (Fitzpatrick now works at Google; Six Apart has since sold
> LiveJournal.) It has the support of Yahoo, MySpace (which just helped build
> an OpenID extension for the Flock browser), and President-elect Barack
> Obama's Change.gov. Even Google has dipped its proverbial toe in the pool.
>
> But it wasn't until Facebook Connect started making headlines that the
> concept of data portability--a single login across multiple sites--made the
> jump from the tech press to the mainstream media. OpenID, some speculated,
> had been left behind in the dust.
>
> Hardly. But Wired's Michael Calore hit the nail on the head on Monday:
> "Presenting a dialog that asks a user to log in to one website using a name
> and password from another website is jarring, but Facebook has managed to
> keep Facebook Connect simple enough for everyday users to understand. Such
> ease of use virtually guarantees it will win support quickly."
>
> The truth is, the future of the "social Web" is in expansion. And expansion
> invariably involves dealing with a crowd beyond the Twittering,
> FriendFeeding, WordPressing geeks who actually understand the concept behind
> data portability.
>
> And that's not made any easier by the fact that OpenID calls itself "an
> open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity." Try
> bringing that up in the boardroom of a non-tech company looking to ride the
> social-networking wave. Then tell them that the most buzzed-about social
> network on the planet will power your site's social features. The decision
> will probably fall in the Facebook camp, unfortunately for the
> open-standards crowd and its admirable dedication to all things balanced and
> democratic.
>
> "Nobody should own this. Nobody's planning on making any money from this,"
> Fitzpatrick has said about OpenID. "The goal is to release every part of
> this under the most liberal licenses possible, so there's no money or
> licensing or registering required to play. It benefits the community as a
> whole if something like this exists, and we're all a part of the community."
>
> But your average company is probably going to care more about profit margins
> than OpenID's decentralized ideal, and the possibility of having its user
> activity broadcast across Facebook members' news feeds is tantalizing.
> Especially during tough financial times, strategy will likely trump
> idealism.
>
> That said, there are some good signs for OpenID. It has a ton of support in
> the tech world, and if Facebook Connect's impending expansion goes awry for
> any reason--think Beacon--it could open up a whole new set of doors for
> OpenID. What it (and other open Web standards) needs either way is some
> image repair.
>
> "Facebook is trying to replace all logins with their own, and control the
> creation, distribution and application of the social graph using their
> proprietary platform," Chris Saad, whose DataPortability Workgroup has put
> its support behind OpenID and other open Web standards, wrote in a blog
> post. "The most scary part of this, is that while Facebook is quietly and
> methodically building out this vision with massive partners, the standards
> community is busy squabbling about naming the open alternative."
>
> OpenID and its brethren could use a good, simplified marketing pitch, not to
> mention some announcements and partnerships that are more prominent than an
> extension for a niche Web browser. They need to use the resources that the
> likes of MySpace and Yahoo can provide to get more deals going and start
> making headlines outside of ReadWriteWeb and TechCrunch.
>
> And most importantly, in a recession, "it's good for the Web, so it's good
> for everyone" just isn't concrete enough. One last tip for OpenID: Start
> talking business benefits.
>
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