[OpenID] OpenID Extension to handle Emails Addresses?

[SitG Admin]

>You think that educating the public at large, the billion user 
>population of the Internet is an easier proposition than changing a 
>few pieces of code?

Try parsing that again:
"I concede that users may find change more difficult than remaining 
as they were."

>There are several million email servers on the Internet. What is 
>being proposed here is much simpler than running a mail server.

So is what we have now. You speak as if providing identity is a 
serious business that *already* offers barriers to entry equivalent 
(at least) to what they currently are for a mail server, and the 
lowering of these standards is something new. In the sense of "OpenID 
is new" it may be, but within the context of OpenID users already 
have it that easy - and I, for one, scoff at the idea of abandoning 
this just because someone dashes up to me and announces that "things 
have changed" and I now have to qualify for running a mail server if 
I want to run my own IDP anymore.

And this is the danger of OpenID, to serious businesses. Once users 
experience freedom, they may never be willing to let go, and an 
entire business model could become no longer viable. How can 
businesses charge money for something that's essentially free?

To quote Bob Blakley, when was the last time you bought a bottle of water?

-Shade