[OpenID] Purpose of OpenID Foundation and the Elections

[Johannes Ernst]

Specific comment on one of the many good things you are discussing:

On Dec 11, 2008, at 14:56, Eran Hammer-Lahav wrote:

> The two main contenders for the meaning of the OpenID brand are:  
> technology
> and product.

There is another, which is "customer promise".

Compare with "Visa".

What is "Visa"?
  - Visa is an (interoperability) technology, because otherwise  
sliding me card at the shoe store would not work
  - Visa is a product (a card), because I can order one from my bank

But at the end of the day, both miss the essence of it.

The way I think of Visa is as a promise to the customer. It's the  
promise that if I do X (get the card, show the card at the shoe store,  
pay my bill on time) then Y will happen (I get the shoes, I can  
dispute the bill, ...)

Simple test for this hypothesis: if tomorrow, Visa changed the  
technology from whatever network protocols they have today to  
something totally different, it would still be Visa. Also, if they  
changed where you get the cards from, or whether or not it is even  
card (e.g. embedded in a cell phone, for example), it would still be  
Visa.

But if they changed the promise and I won't get the shoes, regardless  
of product or technology, it would not be Visa.

I believe there is a great parallel to OpenID.

I believe OpenID should be that promise. Displayed at the front door  
of a website (like the Visa logo at the door of the shoe store) and  
communicating to the customer "if X then Y".

Today OpenID's customer promise means: if you bring a valid  
identifier, you can log on without a password.
It might, in some circumstances, mean today (and perhaps more so in  
the future): if you filled out the profile at your OP, you don't have  
to fill out forms here.
In the future, it might also mean "all my data is mine, it moves  
around as I like, and there is a legal framework around it that I can  
legally enforce."

This promise must exist as a brand. It must be multi-vendor/party. It  
will turn out to be >>50% overlap with the term OpenID as it is used  
today. So in my view, it should be OpenID.






Johannes Ernst
NetMesh Inc.

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