Image by Mac Babs

We were close to announce this once but this time it is final: Spread OpenID will not be updated anymore.

Maybe you wonder about the reasons. Well, when Thomas and I first talked about Spread OpenID back in the summer of 2007, OpenID was – compared to these days – still in rather early development. But both of us were enthusiastic about OpenID already, especially about its promise to provide users with an opportunity to build an online identity independent of any company. However, at that time it was mainly driven by developers and therefore rather technical. There were hardly any resources available for users who wanted to know more about it or tried to choose an OpenID provider.

Spread OpenID should have been such a resource and we had many ideas about the site. Ha, there is even a mindmap somewhere on the net about it. You won’t believe the ideas we had. Hopefully, no one will ever find that map. Anyway, by the time we eventually launched Spread OpenID, the OpenID Foundation also re-launched its website, made it more user friendly, and included some of the ideas we had for Spread OpenID. So in the end we launched with a small provider comparison and a blog accompanying it.

However the blog is also document that things didn’t work out the way we originally thought. We updated it rather infrequently and didn’t add much more resources to the site. The reasons were manifold but the main one was simply time. Both Thomas’ projects and my own blog suffered (and still do) as well. Maybe we were a little bit naive about it. I don’t know.

The inevitable happened, Spread OpenID was on hiatus for a few months in 2008 and we tried to find someone else who was able to continue it with more commitment and enthusiasm. But this failed as well. So we tried to revive it again at the beginning of last year. But this was also just short-lived.

In the end, not only time is still missing but priorities regarding OpenID also changed for us. It’s just not as important to us anymore as it used to be two years ago. We still like it and we are happy about the progress that was made over the last two years. Though honestly, there are also developments we don’t like, e.g. there’s hardly any space for independent providers anymore.

The site will continue to be up for some time. It probably depends on traffic for how long, though. The OpenID Foundation is working on a provider matrix currently, if we got things right. So there will be some kind of replacement for the provider comparison.

To cut a long story short, we say goodbye today. Thanks a lot to all people and blogs that supported and linked to us, most notably Marshall Kirkpatrick at Read Write Web and Chris Messina. Also huge thanks to Cameron King for writing a great article on OpenID and contributing it to Spread OpenID, and last but not least to all readers. Without you we would have stopped much earlier.

Thomas & Carsten

Log in to an OpenID enabled websites has become more user friendly for Google users. They can use their Google profiles URL for login now.

Google has been an OpenID provider since October 2008 already. However users had to remember a rather cryptic URL, www.google.com/accounts/o8/id, which was the same for all users. Alternatively, relying parties and users could rely on the Google login button (see below), which led to the infamous NASCAR problem of OpenID, a term coined by Daniel Burka and made famous by Chris Messina.

Now users can log in with their Google profile URL. If you have a Gmail account or use any other Google service you already have a Google profile. Simply click this URL to find your profile: www.google.com/profiles/me. That’s definitely a URL which is easier to remember for users. Below is an example of a login with a Google profile:

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.

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.

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.