[OpenID] Changes to the OpenID Foundation member page login

[Chris Messina]

+1.
I find myself in a bit of a tough spot, as Janrain is a competitor to my
employer, but I think that's it's completely above the pale to strive to
maintain vendor neutrality, regardless of the vendor.

I also have no problem using a vendor product if it serves the needs and
interests of the foundation if 1) the relationship between the vendor and
foundation is made clear 2) the decision-making process for selecting the
product is transparent and 3) efforts are made to make the use of the
product transparent and to not appear as though the foundation does or does
not endorse the vendor or the product.

I'm guessing that in this case a decision was made off-the-cuff and no
special treatment was rendered, but it sets a poor precedent for subsequent
decisions, and is something that I believe is covered in Section 5.14 of the
byaws on conflicts of interest.

Chris

On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 10:18 AM, Eran Hammer-Lahav <eran at hueniverse.com>wrote:

>  Oh.
>
>
>
> I didn't know that; which now makes sense because I did notice the weird RP
> URL when asked to approve the request.
>
>
>
> Without taking anything away from the quality of the product, it does raise
> the question of should the OpenID foundation site endorse a vendor product,
> or at least with some clear disclaimer explaining the relationship. I don't
> know what decision-making process was used to install the new login flow,
> but I think it should have included addressing such concerns to make sure we
> keep the foundation as vendor-neutral as possible.
>
>
>
> The fact that I had no idea a commercial product was being used (I played
> with the JanRain product when it first came out but forgot about it and
> didn't make the association) make me feel a little bit tricked… It is still
> a solid product and the closest thing I have seen so far in terms of
> usability, but the issue here is purely political, not technical.
>
>
>
> EHL
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* DeWitt Clinton [mailto:dewitt at unto.net]
> *Sent:* Friday, December 05, 2008 10:07 AM
> *To:* Steven Livingstone-Perez
> *Cc:* Eran Hammer-Lahav; general at openid.net
> *Subject:* Re: [OpenID] Changes to the OpenID Foundation member page login
>
>
>
> I believe this particular bit of awesomeness is due to the JanRain RPX
> solution:
>
>   http://www.janrain.com/products/rpx
>
> -DeWitt
>
> On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 10:00 AM, Steven Livingstone-Perez <
> weblivz at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I agree - and it's all working great for me now too :) I can vote!
>
> Well done.
>
> Steven.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: general-bounces at openid.net [mailto:general-bounces at openid.net] On
> Behalf Of Eran Hammer-Lahav
> Sent: 05 December 2008 17:53
> To: general at openid.net
> Subject: [OpenID] Changes to the OpenID Foundation member page login
>
> Sweet!
>
> The new login flow is such a dramatic improvement (and a really good
> reference for future usability discussions) that it is almost worth $25
> just
> to play with. Maybe that is going too far... :-) but seriously, this is a
> great new feature of the site.
>
> EHL
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-- 
Chris Messina
Citizen-Participant &
 Open Technology Advocate-at-Large
factoryjoe.com # diso-project.org
citizenagency.com # vidoop.com
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