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January 18, 2008
Yahoo + OpenID = The Underpants Gnomes' Missing Step
As internetnews.com reported, Yahoo has decided to implement OpenID for its user accounts. You probably already know about OpenID, but the internetnews nutshell will work if you don't:
"The brainchild of LiveJournal creator Brad Fitzpatrick, who is now with Google, OpenID is designed to provide Web users with a universal identifier so they can sign into social networks, blogs and other Web sites with a single login.
"When Yahoo launches its OpenID service in public beta form on Jan. 30, anyone with an OpenID identifier will be able to log into Yahoo's Web sites.
"On non-Yahoo sites, Yahoo users will be able to type 'www.yahoo.com' into the login prompt of a site that uses OpenID. The company Yahoo said that it is also working with several OpenID partners to include a 'Sign in with Your Yahoo ID' button on their sites to further streamline the process."
Tech Crunch called Yahoo's implementation a massive win for the project, and provided a quote from Yahoo's Director of Membership and Registration:
"'This is just the first step in working with OpenID,' Yahoo Director of Membership and Registration Raj Mata said to me on a phone interview yesterday. But he would not confirm when (or if) Yahoo would also become what is called a 'relying party' (allowing users with third party OpenIDs to log in to Yahoo). He did say that the goal was to move in that direction, but gave no further guidance."
Which make this kind of a weird "win" for OpenID, which stresses the notion that your OpenID is portable among services:
"You get to choose the OpenID Provider that best meets your needs and most importantly that you trust. At the same time, your OpenID can stay with you, no matter which Provider you move to. And best of all, the OpenID technology is not proprietary and is completely free."
With Yahoo's implementation, your previously existing OpenID isn't any good, which means anyone who already has an OpenID now needs to have a second one to deal with Yahoo's properties.
Leslie Poston goes into quite a bit more detail on that, and Jeremy Zawodny got preemptively defensive:
"Oh, and before anyone jumps on me about this not being 'full' (meaning bi-directional) OpenID support, I'm quite aware of that. Consuming OpenID is a different beast that can't happen overnight. Give it some time. I'm optimistic that we'll get there."
Well, "full" meaning "full," I think.
The main point is, of course, that all Yahoo needs to do is drag its feet for a quarter or so and scoop up everyone who doesn't have an OpenID already, then implement the part I'm sure it could've managed anyhow given a few more weeks to launch. Then we'll all get scolded for ever doubting. Unless we include Jason Snyder, who took the time to write it all out:
"... OpenID's success as a whole hinges on the channel of authentication queries being a two-way street -- unless, of course, identity is to evolve into a service offered by a handful of providers.
"Which, on the face of things, could be what this announcement is ultimately about -- a pitch for users to put Yahoo in their longed-for single sign-on wallet before Google offers a competing alternative to the multitudes already splitting their time between Google and Yahoo log-ins."
Posted by mhall at 4:52 PM | Add Comment
Jeremy Zawodny? The same JWZ who keeps complaining about the computer world and insists he's trying to leave it all behind? Thanks, that's a reliable person to opine on all this!
No, JWZ is Jamie Zawinsky, not Jeremy Zawodny. Look at the Wikipedia article "JWZ".
I would have made that a link, but this comment box doesn't seem to allow any normal way to do that. I mean, it's not like this is a part of a worldwide hypertext system or anything.