[OpenID] W3C TAG recommends against XRI

[Dick Hardt]

On 23-May-08, at 4:09 AM, Drummond Reed wrote:

> Dick, glad you asked. I was at an event all day today but spent a  
> good part
> of this evening collating the input of XRI TC members in response to  
> the
> TAG's posting.
>
> Suffice it to say, the XRI TC -- and so far the vast majority of OASIS
> members -- believe the TAG is mistaken in its judgement.
>
> For the full details of our response, see:
>
> 	http://wiki.oasis-open.org/xri/XriSolvesRealProblems

Hmm.

I think it would be useful to state why XRI is important without  
muddying the conversation with XRDS. For example in the document you  
list above in the Identity Capabilities Description, George Fletcher  
and Axel Nennker are talking about XRDS, not XRI.

Clearly there is momentum around XRDS and it is resonating in the  
market. I am not seeing the same for XRIs.

The recent IIW Presentation I gave on redundant identifier sets  
potentially solves the identifier recycling and loss of identifier  
problem in a manner that has advantages over XRI and does not require  
the creation of another central infrastructure. In other words, there  
are other ways to solve the problem without requiring the new  
infrastructure.

Personally, I have not seen significant advantages to XRIs (and yes, I  
have a couple -- vanity at work!).
I have taken the position that we should let the market decide if  
there is value in XRIs. If I look at the market, I think people in  
general see URLs being much simpler to work with then XRIs and.

As a colleague and as someone that wants to see someone smart like  
yourself doing productive work, I'd suggest there may be value in  
reflecting on what is happening in the market and spending your time  
on initiatives that resonate with the market. You did alot of smart  
thinking about XRIs -- I just don't get a sense it is resonating with  
the market.

-- Dick