[OpenID] OpenID based on email addresses... Just Works!

[Martin Atkins]

David Recordon wrote:
> Yeah, I think this general approach with the addition of knowing it is 
> an email, doing directed identity, and passing the email as 
> OpenID.identity is a good one. I really prefer to find a simple solution 
> that doesn't involve running a mapping service or mucking with DNS.
> 

FWIW, I have an experimental implementation that does what you describe:
http://www.apparently.me.uk/18285.html

It can also optionally involve "mucking with DNS", but I fall back on 
the "do Yadis discovery on the domain" method if the DNS records it's 
looking for aren't there. One difference is that I invented a new XRDS 
service type so that we don't start sending email addresses to existing 
providers that aren't ready to support them yet. I think it's better for 
this to fail during discovery at the RP than give a (probably confusing 
an unhelpful) error message at the OP.