| Status | Privately Held |
| Website | openid.net |
| Blog | planet.openid.net |
| Category | Web |
The Open ID Foundation is a non-profit organization that manages the efforts to increase adoption of the Open ID standard across the web. By using the service, internet users can authenticate at various websites with one digital identity managed through the Open ID standard. The inital protocols for the technology were created by LiveJournal founder Brad Fitzpatrick.
In a display of its promise as a technology and its support by technology’s biggest players, the Open ID Foundation has a Corporate Board comprised of Google, IBM, Yahoo!, VeriSign, and Microsoft.
| Website | openid.net |
| Blog | planet.openid.net |
| Stage | Live |
| Launch Date | May, 2005 |
For users attempting to manage a long list of log-in credentials for a variety of websites, OpenID attempts to eliminate that need by giving users a single digital identity through which they control their information. In its simplest form, the Open ID protocol allows a user to distinguish themselves via an identity-specific url and then log on to any website that supports Open ID with that single URL, rather tan trying to remember a user name and password. The 2.0 version of OpenID also supports an authentification form called an XRI, which marries an i-name (similar to the original OpenID url) to an i-number(unique identifier which never changes), thus allowing for a more secure form of identification. Perhpas Open ID’s biggest win was Yahoo’s decision to allow Yahoo! users to convert their Yahoo! id’s into Open ID’s in January 2008.
