OpenID: The Web’s Most Successful Failure
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OpenID: The Web’s Most Successful Failure
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Re: OpenID: The Web’s Most Successful Failure
#2Both Livejournal and Dreamwidth use OpenID to allow commentors to claim an identity. I also use it to log in to Disqus, Hacker News, Slashdot, Stack Overflow, and a bunch of other sites. Oh, and to leave comments on a bunch of different blogs.
It's not the answer to everything - but it still works remarkably well for many.
Re: OpenID: The Web’s Most Successful Failure
#3The top response on Quora is enlightening: http://www.quora.com/What-s-wrong-with-OpenID (also, it's annoying that I can't directly link to a response on Quora).
I really agree with the breakdown there. It's an over-engineered solution to a problem that doesn't really solve it all that well. I also use it to log into SO and the related sites, but frankly it's a PITA. I don't use OpenID to log into HN, and I never have to type in my credentials here, since my browser has the cookie saved.
I also use a password manager, so OpenID doesn't offer any additional security to me. As for privacy, the potential problems are too abstract for me to understand. I'm technical, but I don't understand OpenID on a deep level. I'd hardly expect your casual home user to know this either.
OpenID seems like a product that was designed in a vacuum, and should have had a stronger vision behind it. It's put together well, but the thing as a whole just doesn't do what it needs to do.
Re: OpenID: The Web’s Most Successful Failure
#4There's been a lot of talk on OpenID recently; it's nice to see one that doesn't simply bash it.
TL;DR: OpenID wasn't revolutionary in itself but the idea behind it is.
Re: OpenID: The Web’s Most Successful Failure
#5I love OpenID and use it as much as possible. The only problem I have with it is the URL-as-username approach it takes. When a site asks me for the URL, I don't use OpenID as I always forget it. If the site asks me to "log in with Google using OpenID" or something similar I will use it. I don't see how people say that OpenID is a solution in search of a problem: I DO have the problem that I don't want to create a new account for every site I use. The problem is there, and some uses of OpenID really do solve it.
Re: OpenID: The Web’s Most Successful Failure
#6I love OpenID and use it as much as possible. The only problem I have with it is the URL-as-username approach it takes. When a site asks me for the URL, I don't use OpenID as I always forget it. If the site asks me to "log in with Google using OpenID" or something similar I will use it. I don't see how people say that OpenID is a solution in search of a problem: I DO have the problem that I don't want to create a new…
seconded: login proliferation is a real problem that i face all the time. i've been on the web for very nearly 15 years at this point, and there's no numbering the accounts i've created in that time, let alone all the ones i actually still use. OpenID isn't be perfect, but most of the really egregious issues i've seen with it have revolved around sites not being willing to commit to it.
Re: OpenID: The Web’s Most Successful Failure
#7OpenID isn't "done" yet. There very much is a market for 3rd party identification and I think that people will really want some level of neutrality from their identification provider.
Unfortunately, it seems that facebook is filling that market-- albeit without the neutrality. I don't like that. It just feels "icky" when I sign-on anywhere other than facebook using my facebook identity. I might NOT want my facebook picture to be seen on the sidebar of random websites by my friends. I don't particularly feel good about facebook monetizing my preferences even if it is done in an anonymous statistical fashion. Nor do I like that sometimes I have to worry about what exactly facebook is going to broadcast about me to the rest of the world or to my friends.
This might be nothing deeper than a superficial perception, but I simply don't trust facebook with my identity as much as I do OpenID participants.
Re: OpenID: The Web’s Most Successful Failure
#8The top response on Quora is enlightening: http://www.quora.com/What-s-wrong-with-OpenID (also, it's annoying that I can't directly link to a response on Quora). I really agree with the breakdown there. It's an over-engineered solution to a problem that doesn't really solve it all that well. I also use it to log into SO and the related sites, but frankly it's a PITA. I don't use OpenID to log into HN, and I never hav…
Sure you can link to a response:
Re: OpenID: The Web’s Most Successful Failure
#9I love OpenID and use it as much as possible. The only problem I have with it is the URL-as-username approach it takes. When a site asks me for the URL, I don't use OpenID as I always forget it. If the site asks me to "log in with Google using OpenID" or something similar I will use it. I don't see how people say that OpenID is a solution in search of a problem: I DO have the problem that I don't want to create a new…
The reason for the URL as username is that OpenID originated on Livejournal, where users have their own URL (i.e. mine is andrewducker.livejournal.com)
It therefore made sense to use URL endpoints as identifiers, as you could bounce people to their authorising server incredibly easily. Doing it via email address would be much harder (where would my email, andrew@ducker.org.uk, be authorised by?).
It's caught on amongst people who have URLs (bloggers, journallers, etc.. It hasn't caught on amongst people who don't (everyone else).
Re: OpenID: The Web’s Most Successful Failure
#10The top response on Quora is enlightening: http://www.quora.com/What-s-wrong-with-OpenID (also, it's annoying that I can't directly link to a response on Quora). I really agree with the breakdown there. It's an over-engineered solution to a problem that doesn't really solve it all that well. I also use it to log into SO and the related sites, but frankly it's a PITA. I don't use OpenID to log into HN, and I never hav…
Sure you can link to a response: http://www.quora.com/What-s-wrong-with-OpenID#ans24870
Thanks. Care to explain how you did that?
I just hovered over everything on that comment, and found out that the date (of all things!) is permalink-ish.