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Microsoft Loses Passport
nikkoslack copies and pastes: "Microsoft is abandoning one of its most controversial attempts to dominate the Internet after rival companies banded together to oppose it and consumers failed to embrace it. The Redmond software company said Wednesday it would stop trying to persuade Web sites to use its Passport service, which stores consumers' credit-card and other information as Internet users surf from place to place."
I think "rival companies banded together to oppose it" was far less relevant than "consumers failed to embrace it"
Here's what I do: Bitty Browser & Andromeda
Thank God.
I realize that it's probably the fault of the implementer, and not the technology, but I can't tell you how many times I've supplied my password to a page that was rendered without https.
So I had to get two Passport accounts: one for secure things, like my MSDN account, and one for things that I didn't care who stole my password for.
Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by mere idiocy.
/tinfoil hat on
/tinfoil hat off
Microsoft will embrace the Libery Alliance's Passport service. Windows users will embrace it too because it will be ported into the kernel.
Few years later, Microsoft will modify the protocol to extend it, adding their own proprietary features. Windows users have no choice but to embrace it.
Microsoft will then lock out competitors from using their new version of Passport. They might even patent parts of it. In the end they will end up dominating the Passport buisness anyways.
Microsoft will still use Passport for MSN services like Hotmail.
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Your logic kind of cancels itself out. You are correct that the bulk of the public isn't tech-knowledgable -- and so I'd say that it's safe to say that they didn't avoid Microsoft's Passport for security reasons.
(after all, do they avoid Microsoft's OSes for security reasons?)
Passport mostly failed because those masses didn't "get it" and didn't care to.
Here's what I do: Bitty Browser & Andromeda
Just some questions. Is the liberty alliance project still alive? does it provide a decentralized authentication proxy and will it be deployed concretely in some future?
There were a lot of rumors about this "passport killer" but now it seems to be faded into silence.
-- "If A equals success, then the formula is A=X+Y+Z. X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut." - Einstein
They shot themselves in the foot a long time ago with extremely high licensing costs and requirements as well as complicated implementation requirements (not to mention the tiny client portfolio or constant security problems).
Besides, there's no push for businesses to either adopt single-sign-on services, or for customers to want it.
Businesses require flexibility when it comes to user authorisation and profiles that 3rd-party services cannot offer.
Most people either use the same user-name and password combination for all of their services, and there aren't many browsers that won't auto-complete u/p forms.
At least with this announcement, Microsoft might be able to push some of it's resources from trying to push this serviced to 3rd parties to fixing the services internally (ever tried to log-out?)
When Microsoft continued to leave "security" off its list of "necessary items" to follow up on for years, they pretty much shot any hopes of controlling a unified authentication system out the door.
Nobody takes them seriously as far as security goes. Just reading the headlines for a day would make that abundantly clear.
Perhaps a competitor will come out with a clean record and a compelling product, but in this area it isn't going to be Microsoft, if anyone.
SNACKS ARE AWESOME
My wife was buying airline tickets on Expedia when it asked her to log in, the first log in choice was to use her Passport id. So she dutifully goes and retrieves her US passport. Yes, I laughed at her too, but still the confusion was understandable, she was buying airline tickets after all.
Maybe if they would have called WebId or something more descriptive it might have caught on.
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Innovation isn't really innovation if no one wants it but you.
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I'm almost sorry to see it go - it was a usable, simple to integrate single-sign-on with a big name, money and a fair critical mass behind it. Shame the entry price was so high.