OpenID 2.0 Is Here

After what seemed like a never-ending debate, OpenID 2.0 is finally ready. The OpenID Authentication 2.0 and OpenID Attribute Exchange 1.0 specifications were approved through extensive community participation.

The attribute exchange specification is something that can bring in convenience for the users and perhaps expand OpenID adoption. OpenID has been suffering with a lopsided support from providers. Neither application developers nor users have adopted it wholeheartedly. There have been developments, but we also need efforts to educate and improve the ease of use. Marshall Kirkpatrick explains the troubles with OpenID 2.0. There is not enough education about OpenID, which has allowed a lot of misconceptions and half-knowledge to spread around.

Now that the specification is ready, we can look forward to how well it works with oAuth. I believe that only out of these combinations will OpenID’s benefits be realized. As Artur Bergman says:

OpenID should be viewed as a core fundamental enabling technology. It allows the authentication and exchange of account data between un-related websites. Indeed, it does not attempt to solve higher level problems, such as authorization.

We will have to couple OpenID with other mechanisms so that the entire working cycle can be demonstrated. And with the attribute exchange, its value can be more apparent to the users.