[OpenID] Purpose of OpenID Foundation and the Elections

Jack Cleaver jack at jackpot.uk.net
Fri Dec 12 15:29:47 UTC 2008


Eran Hammer-Lahav wrote:
> I'm not sure I understand you question. Care to elaborate?

My question was not as facetious as I made it appear.

A number of voters/candidates (including you) have referred to OpenID as
a "product", or have implicitly concurred in such a reference. I find
such references bewildering. I think these references are usually
metaphorical, but this isn't always obvious from the context.

I suspect that what is really meant may be that in addition to a brand
and a set of specifications, OpenID can be seen as [the set of all
OpenID providers and all OpenID Relying Parties]. Viewed as such, it can
then be treated as the subject of a marketing effort, for example, as if
it were a product. Potential users and deployers can be treated as if
they were potential customers, and salesman-like questions can be asked
about the "product", such as what are the TCO and the ROI.

Is this roughly the sense in which you were using the term "product"?

-- 
Jack.
> 
> EHL
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: general-bounces at openid.net [mailto:general-bounces at openid.net] On
>> Behalf Of Jack Cleaver
>> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 11:29 PM
>> To: OpenID General
>> Subject: Re: [OpenID] Purpose of OpenID Foundation and the Elections
>>
>> Eran Hammer-Lahav wrote:
>>
>>> To sum my position: the main role of the OpenID foundation in the
>>> coming year is to help OpenID become a well understood brand and
>>> successful product that has the features desired by the market.
>> Which particular implementation of the protocol is "the product" that
>> you think should be receiving the foundation's attention?
>>
>> --
>> Jack.
>> _______________________________________________
>> general mailing list
>> general at openid.net
>> http://openid.net/mailman/listinfo/general




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