The BBC noted today that MySpace has announced that they will be tying into the OpenID system, which lets users log in to various sites with the same username and password.
I’ve said for some time that OpenID is going to have problems because it doesn’t have a user-friendly face.
I understand that it needs to be an infrastructure solution in order to get companies like MySpace to use it (otherwise it’s kind of data competition), but that’s why it hasn’t really taken off yet. Sure, companies are signing up (livejournal, flickr, blogger, etc), but users are still a bit confused.
But I digress. MySpace supporting OpenID does not mean that you get to use your MySpace login at any OpenID site. There are different levels of OpenID support, and MySpace is only compatible with site that aren’t actually allowing users to register new IDs:
However, MySpace is not letting its members use their login profiles and details on any site. It has set restrictions on where the login details can be used based on whether those sites create or accept OpenID profiles.
Nor will they let you log in to MySpace with an OpenID from somewhere else:
Similarly, MySpace will not allow people who get an OpenID from a provider, such as Yahoo, to use that to login to the social network site.
Although the article does note that MySpace plans to expand that compatibility in the future.
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Kai Davis 07.23.08 at 11:20 am
So you can’t use an existing openID on myspace nor can you use your myspace ID on most openID sites?
Progress is rad! I could see openID getting a boost if your myspace ID was now an open ID, but putting limitations on it hinders the entire process.
Jason Preston 07.23.08 at 1:43 pm
@Kai - agreed. I think it’s likely to open up (no put intended) sometime in the near future. The trending openness seems slow and plodding but inevitable to me.