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Passport vs. Plan 9
netphilter writes "LinuxWorld is carrying an article about how Apache and Plan 9 are going to defeat Microsoft's Passport. I hate Passport's integration with XP (although that might be because I hate XP). An Open Source single-sign on would be a real blessing. Will we ever get a good single sign-on solution?"
I certainly don't want a single sign on. Yes, it's a single point of failure. But it's more than that. It's one-stop shopping for anybody who wants to intrude into your life or totally violate your privacy. I don't like passport. I won't like any other system of the same ilk.
I keep differnt account names on different systems. I use multiple passwords that follow rules for mixing case, special chars, and numerics. I never have any programs remember my passwords. It's a hassle to keep up with but I feel a bit more like no one is watching all of what I do.
Am I a paranoid tin-foil hat type? No, I'm an honest up-standing citizen type. I don't think I want to give the keys to my life to anyone, though. I don't want some a hacker breaking in and messing up my life. Nor do I want to be perfectly profiled by a bunch of marketing droids.
Single sign on is great - for a single system. I do not want and will not use single sign on for the internet.
Personally, I am against single sign on. I think it is fundamentally dangerous, and ultimately unnecessary. What bothers me though is the degree to which some zealots here are willing to dismiss Microsoft out of hand. As a long time mac user, I know well the feeling of having a superior technology that is dwarfed by the 800 pound gorilla. However, I have never been under the dillusion that MacOS will defeat Microsoft's offerings in the marketplace. And it seems absurd to make such a broad assertion. Better would have been "here is why Plan 9 could (or should) defeat MS..." Quite frankly, if you don't give your competition the respect they deserve and recognize their strengths, you have no hope of defeating them. I'm sure Sun Tzu said something about this. Even MS knows that...look at their efforts to counter open source, etc...they recognize it as a force to be reckoned with.
At this point, I'm not sure where this post is going or what my original point was. But to repsond more directly to some of your questions: I don't have a problem with integration of passport in XP. Its their operating system. For those that need that functionality, having it tightly integrated into the OS can make sense. Having said that, if using XP requires you to use passport, it is one more reason I would personally avoid XP. I don't trust Microsoft, but I use them when it makes sense. I use Office v.X (the office suite unfortunately named after a powerful nerve gas) because it rocks. Say what you will about feature bloat, but it has the features everyone in my office needs. No one uses all of them (or nearly all) but everyone has different needs and I know with Office those needs will be met. And I can disable clippy.
In summary: Single sign-on bad. Microsoft good and bad. Rabid zealotry bad. Any questions?
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball(TM)
I suggest living in a cabin in the woods somewhere with no utilities where you grow your own food? That's about the only way you can be even remotely "private"
And even then, They know where you are. Because there's a land deed somewhere with your name on it and you aren't showing up in any of Their databases as consuming goods, so the cabin is the only place you could be!
And while in the big picture you're correct, it doesn't matter unless you're important, the reality is that there is stuff I don't want getting out willy nilly. Does it matter if someone has my name and telephone number? Only if they're a telemarketer. What about medical records? Should your employer be able to access them and let you go if they believe you're too high a cost? Do you want your neighbors or coworkers knowing how much you make?
I don't really have an issue with a centralized database of this stuff, simply because I think it'll be a wash if done properly. No, I don't think we'll have an infallible system, but the current system isn't infallible either. And right now most of the data people worry about is already available - go pull your credit report at Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. You may be amazed at just what they know about you, at least within the last 10 years of your life. And that data is nowhere near as secure as you think it is.
And the issue about companies selling your information is a red herring. It's already done, it's regulated, and it works fine most of the time. See above for the names of the companies doing this as their main profit center for 50 years now.
Design a good secure system with limitations on who can access what data and you're already ahead of the game. I know with absolute certainty that it's better than what we have now.