OpenID is useless
March 16th, 2009 by Eddie SullivanI've been very busy lately working on my next project: an online Texas Hold'em poker site. It's been a lot of fun, and I have most of the actual gameplay functionality working. Now I'm working on the less-fun but just as necessary part: the authentication and login infrastructure.
Since I'm using Django, I can piggyback on its useful authentication module. That's a nice start, but users still need to choose a username and password before they can use the site, not to mention filling out their name, email address, and date of birth. My goal is to lower the barriers to potential users - both psychologically and in terms of effort. Folks are hesitant to sign up for yet another login and password, and to go through a lengthy registration process
Enter OpenID. OpenID sounds like a very promising standard. Unfortunately, the standard promises more than the implementations deliver. Or rather, the standard doesn't quite promise what it seems to. Read the rest of this entry »