Kim Cameron discusses OpenID Prototype

I enjoy reading Kim Cameron's blog. He has an interesting discussion of the use of identity "cards" on the Internet in a recent post.

Yesterday at the OpenID Summit hosted by Yahoo, Microsoft’s Mike Jones and Ariel Gordon showed some of the work their team has been doing to help figure out how this kind of capability could work. What’s cool is that the client they were showing is completely optional - without it, OpenID continues to work as it currently does. But with it, experience improves and the dangers are greatly reduced. I agree with them that demand for a better and safer OpenID user experience will drive selector adoption, which will in turn enable scenarios at higher levels of assurance than are possible with OpenID today.

Ariel Gordon, the main UX designer, told me, “I see it as a starting point for joint work with others in the community - definitely not a finished solution or product.”

It is consistent with the Information Card metaphor:

- Your OpenIDs are shown as visual cards
- You select an OpenID by clicking
- The OpenID last used at the site is the default selection

New OpenIDs can be added on the fly, by picking one from a list suggested by the site, or by typing the provider’s URL.