Why Hasn’t OpenID Caught On?
Last week, I wanted to make a comment on Silicon Valley Insider, and one of the options was OpenID.
Intrigued, I decided to explore OpenID even though it had been something I had dismissed several times in the past. After all, if you’re using a password tool such as RoboForm or 1Password, why use OpenID? Still, it was something I wanted to get a better handle on. (Given my recent embrace of Twitter, maybe 2008 is a year of trial…and error!)
In theory, OpenID makes a lot of sense because it provides a universal login and authentication system at a time when managing your passwords on a growing number of online services becomes increasingly difficult. Once you get an OpenID, logging in to anything becomes a snap.
For whatever reason, OpenID has failed to resonate with many people. It seems to be one of those great ideas that sounds good but never catches on - a lot like BlueTooth. OpenID’s problems range from the challenges finding an identity provider to a dearth of marketing, a lack of places to actually use it, and, frankly, the fact it’s far from user-friendly. ReadWriteWeb has a terrific summary of the troubles facing Open ID
Yet, the OpenID supporters continue to carry on. SpreadopenID.org, for example, recently launched as a way to educate people about OpenID’s benefits, and helping provide an easy way to find an OpenID provider. And OpenID’s prospects got a huge boost a couple of months ago when Google said the new version of Blogger will support OpenID-based commenting, while Flickr will apparently use OpenID as a log in tool.
OpenID is one of those technologies you’d like to embrace because it seems to make a lot of sense. I could be wrong but my feeling is OpenID could become an Edsel given there seems to be little, if any, enthusiasm for it. Unless Google, for example, decides it’s the way to provide seamless access to its growing service portfolio, OpenID’s prospects look pretty dim.
More: Devon Young has a post that illustrates one of the problem with OpenID, listing the sites he can use OpenID on and those that he’d like to use it on but can’t yet. The Identity Corner said OpenID’s problems were seven-fold: trust, security, privacy, usability, adoption, availability and patents.
Update: Google and Facebook have joined Dataportability.org. According to ReadWriteWeb, Google’s representative is Brad Fitzpatrick, who invented LiveJournal and is one of the key people behind OpenID.
Technorati Tags: OpenID
January 8th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Just as a data point, 4% of our mostly techie users use openid to login to our service. That’s a lot higher than I expected but not overwhelming in any way.
January 8th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I would love to use OpenID but not enough places support it, and I guess no one is willing to start supporting it, by the way if it’s so good, why doesn’t your blog support OpenID?
January 8th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
You’re right; perhaps I should be drinking the OpenID Kool-aid but I haven’t seen any demand for it. My first priority is getting my theme updated. Then, I’ll think of other features such as OpenID.
January 8th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Mark,
OpenID is trivial to implement WordPress. Here’s the plugin from Automattic
http://automattic.com/code/openidserver/
Cheers, A
January 8th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Actually, you don’t want to use the OpenID Server plugin; instead, you want to install Will Norris’ OpenID plugin:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/openid/
It takes only a moment to setup and works with most themes. It’s really worth giving it a shot.
Now, as for your broader complaint about OpenID, I think you’re right and make valid points. That said, the OpenID 2.0 spec was only finalized last month, so it’s only fair that you give it time to properly seep into various projects and initiatives out there. It’s far too soon to say it hasn’t (or won’t) catch on. It’s just that the pain isn’t acute enough for enough people.
In the next two years, I think this problem will get worse for folks, and with the proliferation of distributed applications, having a universal way to port yourself from one place to another, and attach services as you go, will become necessarily.
I second Gavin’s suggestion though… get OpenID going here and see if you get much pickup. With the DiSo project, eventually your support of OpenID will pay off.
January 9th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
[...] amount of skepticism about the utility and usability of OpenID. For example, only yesterday Mark Evans wrote about his poor experience with using OpenID. So much so he feels that OpenID could become an [...]
January 10th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Regarding the 7 problems above, SlashID claims to have solved many of them. It is an untrusted identity provider that by itself cannot access user’s data.
http://www.slashid.com
January 17th, 2008 at 10:33 am
[...] can read an earlier post that I did on OpenID’s struggles here. As well, Search Engine Land suggests OpenID is aligned with another bigger issue: data [...]
September 27th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Brilliant. “My first priority is getting my theme updated. Then, I’ll think of other features such as OpenID.”
Make it look better, and only then make it work better.