So, maybe I’m crazy but I’m really getting excited about these new fangled technologies… Things like the computer, the portable computer, the internets and OpenID. Alright, so maybe I’m familiar with the first three (since I do use them everyday) but the last one is quite the interesting concept.
For those of you who don’t know, OpenID is “a way for individuals to create identity online and use it anywhere OpenID is supported” (OpenID.net). Thanks to Alex for helping me learn a bit more about how this technology works. I went onto myopenid.com and signed up for an account in 10 minutes. It was simple to do and now I too can be on this hip train.
Single sign on isn’t a new concept to me as I deal with SSO each day at work and I have used Microsoft’s failed attempt at single sign on called Passport (which is mysteriously online right now) but OpenID takes this idea in a whole new direction. Instead of allowing a single sign on process, it keeps your individual accounts but links your single identity to each of these accounts which in turn makes it simpler to sign on.
I’m not sure if OpenID will be the way of the future as there are some major security issues with it as it stands but it is a great start and it’s going on the right direction. We need a simple way of getting onto the information that we need without remembering one hundred different passwords (all of them with different security levels) and a simple way of getting the same information across to multiple places. I for one don’t want to have to click on “Forgot Password” on half of the sites that I access each week. There are too many logins to remember as it stands but hopefully someone will figure this out soon. For now, I’ll continue to look at Corporate SSO technologies that cost a forture and can’t link me up to my OpenID and dream of a day when I can use the same identity across the board.
