OpenID uncov'd

Ted Dziuba takes openID on in his own characteristic way.

Again, I tend to agree with him. Single sign on is a great idea within an organization/site across various tools/properties. Across, as Ted suggests, hey, recycle!

There's something about too much componentization that gets painful. Especially for the lay user. But then, a lot of the blogosphere couldn't care less about the lay user, could it ? Its so Cool 2.0 to servicify, so a service it shall be.

3 comments:

Kevin Fox - Trust Us Technologies said...

I have to say I think the post was a little short sighted and contrary for the sake of being contrary.

No one is saying OpenID is the magic bullet, rather a step in creating an identity layer which will make the web a more usable and secure place.

I work for Vidoop and we are constantly working to make technologies like OpenID more user friendly. Check out labs.vidoop.com for a list of our current projects including Identity In The Browser aka 'IDIB'

sameer said...

Sure - its got a noble goal, and perhaps will aid security a bit. However, Ted's article - and he usually seems to go overboard on the harshness as usual - does bring out a point about keeping it simple, as many users would appreciate. The web is not always used by geeks and blogosphericals - my dad would be real confused about why the site needs a login thats from *another* place - till I spend a couple of hours over tea and explain the concept to him. And he's a smart (non comp sci) engineer/manager.

Kevin Fox - Trust Us Technologies said...

I would agree, my dad (also technical) has had issues with OpenID.

Things like OpenID in the browser will eliminate the need for a site switch when logging on, which should go a long ways toward usability.