OpenID skeptics
There are plenty of arguments why the basic premise of OpenID is wrong and that it’ll never take off.
And then there are those who think we DON’T need anything more than simple single sign-on. In fact I had lunch with the CEO of SixApart (Barak Berkowitz) who said Brad Fitzpatrick is fairly skeptical of anything beyond his original simple scenario.
And it seems like Kaliya and Phil Windley agree with me. I know that Dick Hardt does too.
We need the Attribute Exchange to make this thing really take off.
Then all the skeptics will realize that the authentication layer HAD to come first - but was just a first step. Along the way we’ll figure out standards for user intrerface and usage flow.
But for now - the critics are right - OpenID as it stands right now is just authentication and that ain’t gonna rock nobodies world - except for Bard Fitzpatrick’s world - I guess.
March 11th, 2007 at 8:17 am
look at the marketplace for single sign on technologies in the enterprise marketspace. Look at how much easier life is for IT departments and users once it’s implemented.
Anyone who is pooh-pooh the importance of a single, unified, unique key for all individual information across the internet just plain isn’t thinking.
There is NO EXCUSE for anyone using anything other than an openid for signon to any new web application. The library is built, it works, and it makes a company’s user information significantly more valuable by easy mergers and acquisitions. Ask yahoo how much it cost in development work, database manipulation and customer good will to switch from flickr to yahoo ids? millions certainly, probably tens of millions.
March 11th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
As much as I’m a believer of OpenID Attribute Exchange, I don’t think its a necessary requirement for OpenID to succeed. Just doing simple single sign-on well will enable a huge (ginormous?) eco-system. That is a success IMHO.
March 23rd, 2007 at 6:19 am
[...] Marc Canter leapt to OpenID’s defense against Michal Migurski’s criticism. …there are those who think we DON’T need anything more than simple single sign-on. In fact I had lunch with the CEO of SixApart (Barak Berkowitz) who said Brad Fitzpatrick is fairly skeptical of anything beyond his original simple scenario. [...]
March 23rd, 2007 at 12:13 pm
“Anyone who is pooh-pooh the importance of a single, unified, unique key for all individual information across the internet just plain isn’t thinking.”
I don’t pooh-pooh its /importance/, I just think it’s a door left wide open to terrifying abuses of privacy, both accidental and malicious.
March 25th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
[...] short of it is that Marc Canter says that single sign-on is good, but “we need the attribute exchange to make this thing really [...]