[OpenID board] Why Connect?

[Eran Hammer-Lahav]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dick Hardt [mailto:dick.hardt at gmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 6:20 PM
> To: Eran Hammer-Lahav
> Cc: Allen Tom; David Recordon; Joseph Smarr; OpenID Board (public);
> openid-specs at lists.openid.net
> Subject: Re: [OpenID board] Why Connect?
> 
> 
> On 2010-05-24, at 6:08 PM, Eran Hammer-Lahav wrote:
> 
> > The question is:
> >
> > Is the OIDF interested in taking the lead in building an identity layer for
> OAuth 2.0?
> >
> > I'm willing to bet that if the answer is no, it will be the beginning of the end
> for OpenID. OAuth 2.0 + identity will fully cover the OpenID 2.0 use cases in a
> cleaner, more secure way.
> 
> OpenID Connect as currently envisioned misses many of the internet identity
> use cases.

And covers most of the ones desired by those currently implementing OpenID. For those using OpenID 2.0 today, this proposal offers a full and significantly better replacement. This proposal is 100% market-driven, which is not something I can say about OpenID now or in the past. This proposal is driven by developers, providers, and end users.
 
> >
> > This is very much an issue of timing. If the problem is the name, call it the
> "OAuth Identity Framework",
> 
> OpenID Connect has very little to do with OpenID, and lots to do with OAuth.
> That sounds like a better name.

True if you define OpenID as nothing but a protocol. But if that is your definition, I think OpenID best days are behind it. People don't care about protocols, they care about products. I think it would be a mistake for the OpenID foundation to let OAuth take over such a huge chunk of the current OpenID use cases.

> > leaving OpenID to be whatever the v.next WG decides it will be a year or
> two from now.
> 
> That sounds like a challenge I am will to take on. :)

Well, that's something the foundation will have to figure out. All I can do is offer my perspective.

EHL