There are some bad news reaching us from Portland: It seems OpenID Provider myVidoop will be out of business soon. This hasn’t been communicated on the Vidoop blog yet, but tech blog TechCrunch was forwarded some emails that indicate this.
This is really unfortunate as myVidoop was a technological advanced OpenID Provider with a unique login interface. It will be missed.
While the OpenID Provider is still up and running, it’s probably a good idea to look for a new provider if you currently use myVidoop. If you use delegation you can easily change the provider. Though if you have not used delegation (or cannot use it) please log in to the Relying Parties you used your myVidoop OpenID and change your settings there. Some services allow users to associate more than one OpenID with one account. Other services allow association of an email address, sometimes even a password. If all fails, get in touch with the service and try to work out something to recover your account while myVidoop is still up.
I am really sorry that such a great provider is dead now.
Posted in Provider.
Tagged with Dead, TechCrunch, Vidoop.
Another great day for OpenID: Facebook, one of the world’s biggest social networks, is adopting the standard as a Relying Party. That means Facebook members can log in to the site with an OpenID from providers like Yahoo!, MySpace, Google, and many more. Also they will be able to sign up to Facebook with an OpenID.
However, the OpenID integration is not implemented yet. If we can believe the announcement, Facebook will auto-detect the OpenID provider if users are already logged into it when coming to Facebook:
Facebook will automatically check to see if users have logged into any OpenID account when they hit Facebook.com, and give them the option to automatically login to Facebook without entering new information.
It will be interesting to see how this works, especially if it works with all providers and not just some of the big ones. Though if it works smoothly, this flow will reduce much of the hassle of OpenID for users. They would not have to provide their OpenID to a relying party anymore if they’re already signed into the OpenID provider already. Actually, it is recommended to sign in to the provider by the beginning of each web browsing session anyway, because it effectively reduces the danger of phishing.
If Facebook integrates OpenID well, it will surely boost OpenID. First, it will signal that large sites don’t have to become providers only. And second, user experience will be improved greatly. So hopefully, Facebook’s implementation will be live soon and we can check it again.
Posted in Relying Parties.
Tagged with Facebook, relying party.
By the end of last year, two big players in the software and internet business have made some interesting steps forward in supporting OpenID.
Yahoo! Is Testing Simple Registration
In November Yahoo! started testing the Simple Registration extension (Sreg) with a limited number of Relying Parties. This extension allows sharing of some basic profile information stored at the OpenID Provider.
As far as I know, the tests are not finished yet, though users can already preview the implementation. As you can see from the screenshot below, I used my Yahoo! OpenID to log in to Plaxo. Don’t mind it’s all German, though.
My real name, nickname, email address (I crossed it out), language, and timezone are forwarded to Plaxo. As usual, Yahoo! provides some informative explanations to users, so they are always informed what’s happening. That’s a real advantage of Yahoo!’s entire OpenID implementation.
Microsoft Live ID Is an OpenID
Another news that almost got unnoticed by me, in October Microsoft announced that Live IDs will be OpenIDs. Microsoft will support the OpenID 2.0 standard only.
Currently, you have to create a Live ID test account to see it work. Already established Live IDs don’t work with the demo. So hopefully, the Microsofft’s tests will end soon. I hate creating test accounts. 
Posted in Provider.
Tagged with Live ID, Microsoft, Sreg, yahoo.
MySpace is certainly one of the most popular social networks worldwide. So it is really exciting to see the company adopting OpenID. Yes, MySpace is an OpenID Provider since this week. It announced possible support for the technology last summer already, but didn’t implement it until this week.
The OpenID support is part of MySpaceID, a strategy of the company to become more open, letting members log in to other sites with their MySpace login credentials and have their friends and activities from MySpace on those sites as well. If you’re familiar with Facebook Connect product, you’ll get the picture.
As you have probably guessed already, MySpace is only an OpenID Provider now, not a Relying Party that accepts other OpenIDs. That’s kind of sad but on the other hand, MySpace users are familiar with the concept of a URL representing themselves. It’s not some strange and mysterious thing to them. So this might drive OpenID adoption even more.
However if you intend using your MySpace OpenID you should keep in mind a thing or two:
- MySpace only supports the OpenID 2.0 specification. So you won’t be able to log in to sites that haven’t upgraded yet.
- As far as I can see, MySpace doesn’t support the Simple Registration extension (see the Technical Terms for more information about it), so you have to fill forms manually on new sites.
- I have tested it with various Relying Parties and was unable to log in to all of them. Some Relying Parties didn’t recognized it as an OpenID.
I am not sure who’s responsible for the latter problem, MySpace or the Relying Party, but it will hopefully be resolved. Until then try your MySpace OpenID and see if it works for you.
Posted in Provider.
Tagged with myspace, Provider.
One of the really great features of OpenID is delegation. Delegation allows users to use their blog or any other URL they control as an OpenID without becoming an OpenID Provider themselves. They only need to add some HTML to the <Head> section of their blog or website. Cameron King has already provided some examples in his OpenID Guide for End Users. The benefits of delegation are obvious:
- Using a URL people know and are using often anyway.
- Switching the OpenID Provider without associating a new OpenID to existing accounts.
In order to use delegation users have to know some details of their OpenID Provider like the openid.server entry. Usually, this information can be found in the help sections of the providers’ websites. Though sometimes the information is difficult to find. Luckily there is an easy way to find the information now.
Delegatid offers a comfortable way for users to use delegation. You only have to enter your OpenID and Delegatid will generate the required HTML code.
Copy and paste the part between line 4 and 8 to the <Head> section of your blog or website and you’re done.
Posted in Users.
Tagged with Delegatid, Delegation.
