I read this post, a post about the idea of a universal login on the internet and the complications therein. I read it with interest and found myself with something I wished to leave in the comments section. As is with many blogs, anonymous comments weren’t allowed, and I needed to log in with any variety of logins.
It was at this point that the subject of the blog post became reality. I have accounts on many of the listed selection but, preferably, I’d rather associate my comment not with a Twitter or Facebook account, but with a more generic profile. I, too, am a little tired of all these logins, passwords and profiles. Google is close — the Google profile and all — but I saw “OpenID” at the bottom.
I think I have one of those accounts, I thought. I entered in my login info.
Nope.
Hmm. How about this?
Nope.
This?
Nope. Ain’t gonna take it.
Well.
At this point I’d forgotten what comment I was even thinking about leaving.
I went to my files to see if I actually had an OpenID account, and had the fortune to personally discover one of the reasons why the concept of a universal login is the Holy Grail of the Internet: I didn’t have an OpenID account, but a MyOpenID account.
Seriously? What is the point of that? I wondered, forseeing some kind of GoDaddy-esque domain seller explosion of OpenID offerings, such as MyOpenID and OurOpenID and OpenIDs andOpenedID and IOpenedMyOwnOpenIDBusiness.
The idea of a universal login is nice for personal convenience’s sake, and also so that Tim LaHaye can have additional material for his Left Behind series. However, I’m not willing to pay $25 for the privilege, which is what OpenID asks. Using Google everything, at this point, has worked well enough for me, though I know I’ll be in a world of hurt the day Google removes the “Don’t Be Evil” mask and reveals themselves to be the sulfur-infused Internet Beelzebub that they likely are.
The blog post in question closes out with the following paragraph:
So maybe universal login isn’t what we’re after. Just an easier login. Much of the blame can be placed on the shoulders of those running websites or blogs. They need to be on top of things and realize that they need easy options.
Possibly.
I’m just too lazy to do anything about it beyond complaining on my own blog.
So I just gave up on leaving a comment at the web site.
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Maybe I’m dense, or more likely just not in the loop, but what does Tim LaHaye have to do with this?
Well, I was going for a “universal login” = “one world government” end times kind of reference.
It made sense at the time.
I think there are a few things about OpenID that have to be corrected here.
First, basically OpenID is a protocol, just like SMTP (used for sending emails). For you, as a user, it’s just a website address like http://example.com/username. OpenID itself is not a product you can buy or a company that sells something. So I am a little bit confused about the $25 reference made in this post. I guess you found that on the openid.net site. That site is the home of the OpenID Foundation. Its purpose is (full quote from the site):
Only if you want to become a member of the Foundation you have to pay $25/year.
Second, MyOpenID provides an OpenID. And a very good one, I might add. So you can use that one at every site that let’s you log in with an OpenID. There are many more providers of OpenID, e.g. Google profiles, Flickr profiles, MySpace profiles,…
If you have any more questions about OpenID, feel free to ask by email. I will also watch the comments of this post, of course. Also you might want to check out spreadopenid.org for more information. It’s a site run by a friend and me.
As much as I love to be corrected on my blog posts…
OpenID.net does have a place for a person to pay $25. After locating it again, it does seem to be a membership as you mention. However, I kept stumbling on that page when I was trying to acquire an OpenID. I would suggest that there are other people stumbling on the same thing, thinking “Oh, I have to pay $25 for the privilege of an OpenID” and deciding against. It was my earlier understanding that OpenID wasn’t a product one could purchase — I do have a general understanding of it, and note that I could use my Google login as my OpenID in the post above — but when I saw the page promoting membership to a vague whatever, it seemed as if OpenID.net was asking for payment for OpenID. While this may not be the case, that is how it looked to me and I’m sure others may think the same.
The confusion between OpenID, MyOpenID, and all the other methods one can use to function as their universal login, so to speak, is one giant problem with those of you promoting the OpenID. I’ve been on the internet a decent amount of time, and if I managed to get a MyOpenID and still have some confusion, the whole process hasn’t been made “user friendly” and in that, you have your roadblock to successful implementation to OpenID. MyOpenID may, indeed, be a very good one, but it is confusing because of its name and the fact that a huge list of other OpenIDs come up on blogs offering it and a person might not know what to put in. I don’t often see MyOpenID coming up in the list and whether it works in the OpenID slot or not, I don’t know, because I’ve never tried. Why? Because it is called something different.
I mean, really? You have a web site for the foundation which offers paid membership and then there are other sites, like MyOpenID, to get an OpenID? That’s like expecting people to read your blog from the bottom right to the top left of the screen.
For something to catch on on the Internet, it has to be embraceable and understandable by the average Joe, not just the early adopter.
True OpenID wouldn’t offer a list of possible logins to use; it would have one space for login, and whatever login you chose, it would work. Otherwise, it’s merely a revamped form of multiple login options, and not really a universal login. If you really want your OpenID to catch on, there’s a confusion factor in play that is exhibited in my post. As you yourself said, you came here to clarify. OpenID should be an obvious concept, not one needed someone to put out fires for clarification. Most people aren’t going to spread OpenID if it is confusing or not convenient because, frankly, we’re lazy on the internet and forced things don’t fly.
As one further thing to note in regards to the blog post, you’ll note that one of the categories is “humor” and that the post is written somewhat tongue-in-cheek. While I appreciate damage control (I do it myself, as a blogger) for the various interests people have and how they stay on top of any blog mention of it for clarification purposes — try writing about Liz Lovely cookies, for example, and you’ll have someone from the company leaving you a blog comment in a day — you should likely note a certain tone to the post which was meant to be somewhat humorous. I may have failed, but it was an attempt. Please don’t take my post as something put out by a Tech Writer.
I guess, I see your point about OpenID being not very intuitive in the first place. And I can’t really disagree.
MyOpenID should work on every login screen mentioning OpenID.
Oh, just to clarify: I’m not a member of the OpenID Foundation, nor am I involved with MyOpenID or JanRain, the company running MyOpenID. Just stumbled across your blog post more or less accidentally.
Sorry, Julie… I’m a few days late this time. Thanks for the mention.
That’s OK. I knew you wouldn’t disappoint.
You still have killer cookies.
… and here I was under the impression that Google was Skynet.
Just for the record, I have since opened up the gates on my comments and have a request in to Echo to do some tweaking, which it sounds like is already in progress, which will give me more flexibility on open comments and spam control.
@thattalldude