OpenID (And Why It Won’t Work)
I read a story just now about how a telecom company in France is going to provide all of their customers with an OpenID, immediately, without any action on the part of the customer.
OpenID, an open authentication system
In principle, OpenID is a good thing. But there are definitely better ways to “open the social graph.” Here’s a repost of something I wrote on Pownce [reference no longer valid] a little bit ago:
All this talk about microformats and the “open social graph” is all well and good… but how many places are going to open up their data? How many services are going to want o implement a centralized-server setup, and be the center of that wheel?
There is only one real solution: a big-name player in the industry has to step up, and take sides. Google is rumored to be creating a centralized social network database… where all those Web 2.0 services can pull things from (like your favorite movies, foods, hobbies, friends, etc), instead of typing them in 29 million times in different places.
There are only three companies who have the power and capability to do this:
Microsoft, Google, and Facebook (Yahoo is outdated, and no longer matters)Microsoft isn’t trusted enough to be a part of this, so that leaves the battle between Google and Facebook.
On one hand, Facebook already has the most social network data on the most people, and has already opened up portions of that data. The next logical step would be providing a system of cross-referencing and caching that data through different sites.
Conversely, Google has the power and the money to destroy any market they see fit. Not only do they hold the sway of the search community, but also have data on many many people who use their singular Google Account for many services. They already have this database in place… they just need to expand it. They already have the functionality of access in place (Google Base), it just needs to be realized and publicized.
I’m hoping these changes come soon. I’m tired of hearing about OpenID being the future. I’m tired of re-typing my data. I’m tired of how useless, but highly flaunted, microformats are in a closed environment. I’m tired of small, next-to-meaningless services wanting to be THE hub for all your data.
We need this. We need it now. And if “the Internet” is to become what everyone of Web 2.0 wants it to be, outside of the nerd fiefdom, it needs to be done right… perfectly, the first time.
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