We all know the diffi
culties involved in creating & maintaining separate online identities for each & every Internet service that we may need to access. However, many of us may not be aware of the evolving technologies which aim to provide a solution for this problem. There has been a silent revolution in the online world from quite some time to bring in a universal standard for accessing the Internet services. Here is a sneak peak at one such protocol called OpenID which is redefining the online digital Identity.
What is OpenID ?
OpenId is a non proprietary technology for simplifying the online presence of an individual by providing a single digital identity across the Internet. It eliminates the need for having multiple user names across different Internet services. One can have multiple OpenID’s, one each for different purposes like office or personal just like the email ids. But unlike email ids, the sites your going to access wont be able to spam you without your permissions.
Prominent OpenId providers
If you are using services like Blogger, AOL or WordPress.com, you will already be having an OpenID. For example, in case of Blogger, you can use your blog URL (blogname.blogspot.com) itself as your OpenID. If you are still not using any such OpenID enabled services or if you like to create a separate OpenID, then you can go for any of the well known OpenID providers which you can trust. MyOpenID, MyId.net, claimID, myVidoop & VeriSign’s PIP are some of the popular OpenID providers which are also recommended by the OpenID foundation. You can also use your existing website or blog URL as your OpenID with little extra one time effort. I will explain more on this in the coming weeks.
Demanding for OpenID support
If any of your favorite sites doesn’t yet have support for OpenID, you can demand them to enable OpenID service. Probably, the best way to make such requests is through using a site called demand.openid.net. This site lets you to submit OpenID requests for any number of sites. Also, you can view the number of OpenID requests submitted by others users for those particular sites. And also, there is a OpenID directory which serves as a useful repository for finding thousands of OpenID enabled sites.
Adoption
OpenID is still in the initial stages of adoption. It is estimated that, currently there are around 500 million OpenID enabled URI’s & nearly thirty one thousand sites with support for OpenID. This may not to be a huge number when you consider the size of the Internet. But, with large organizations such as Microsoft, Google & Yahoo joining the OpenID movement, it is expected to become more & more popular in the near future. Considering current statistics & the growth of OpenID (200%) in the year 2008, we can safely assume that, the days when the whole online world will use a single sign on are not really very far. If you are not yet having an OpenID, probably it’s time to get one & support the rising OpenID movement.
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This is cool feature for Internet users to have a single login for all websites.. Thanks for sharing..
I love OpenID and have been using it for some time. It is really great for social bookmarking and using quick link services like socialmarker.
Thanks,
JR
Pras,
Good to see you again in action.
I am yet to use any open IDs as I am clueless on which one to go for. Don’t you think there’s a need to standardize the process of open IDs. Will wait for your further tips on this.
Cheers,
Ajith
The OpenID based applications are growing pretty fast. I registered with Verisign’s PIP and it’s very difficult to remember the Open ID!
@Nicholas,@DDC, Yes. OpenId will ease our life a lot when the whole online world starts using a single sign on.
@Ajith, Thanks. OpenID is already a standard. Currently, there are quite a few OpenID providers. I am sure this number will grow many times in the coming years. It is just like email providers. So, I don’t see any problems with the growing OpenID providers as for as the users are concerned. Its up to the user to make a choice depending on the providers credibility. Also, There is a way to unlink your OpeID from any of the providers. I will cover more on this In one of my future posts.
@Arun, I do agree. Its bit difficult to remember the OpeID’s in few cases. Shortly, I will write about a workaround which can provide a fix for such problems. Watch out this space for more info.
I recently bumped into OpenID when trying to log on to twitterfeed. The only thing I’m wondering about is how the conversion to OpenID will work. For instance, if I have a unique log in for MySpace, Twitter, Last.fm and Facebook, how will they bridge the gap so that I can use either log in information to get onto the service?
Regardless, I’m a fan of the movement and hope it becomes full established.
I still don’t think OpenID will become widely used. It is used some, but I feel like most website owners would prefer to handle logins themselves. OpenID is a good idea, I just don’t think it will be adopted by most websites.
thanks for sharing such nice and valuable information, I think that it will be helpful for me.
That’s true Funny. I’ve found that I often prefer to make my own account system so that I can better customize it to my user’s needs and interests. Still, I wonder if you could build a table system that ties a user’s open id to a set of site-specific information.
Thanks for this update. I have been using blogger but didn’t bother about Open ID until now. I really didn’t know that I can use the blog url as open id. Thanks again.
@B2M, That is the beauty of OpenID protocol. To support OpenID, sites needs to have an OpenID implementation. And yes, you should be able to retrieve & store rich user information from their OpenID’s.
@FQ, My prediction is purely based on the stats. The growth of OpenID is clearly visible, If you look at the increase in number of sites supporting OpenID in the last 2 years. Lets see how it works in the coming years.
@BradCallen,@SP, Its good to know that the information was useful for you.
Very nice post for helping in increasing the knowledge about the open id which is really integral part of online community.
But at this moment i am using blogspot.com and now my finally target to draw more and more traffic to my site.
[...] to receive my latest updates. Thanks for visiting!In one of my previous post, I explained about the rise of OpenID movement & how it is moving towards becoming a De facto standard in the online Digital Identity field. [...]
My opinition:I still don’t think OpenID will directly widely used. It is used some, but I feel like most website owners.
very nice post for helping in increasing the knowledge about the open id which
But at this moment i am using blogspot.comnd
It’s true that i OpenID will become widely it is fantastic thinks But at this moment. I feels like fluttering usually happens anywhere from your 16th-18th week at the earliest!
Indeed i am very impressed with this openid movement and it is very helpful in maintaining internet identity.
thanks
I like you content of site on the openid which is really very useful for internet community especially for those people who are doing business.