The takeover of Yahoo! by Microsoft is almost a foregone conclusion (see our initial reaction). Barring a bid from another suitor, such as News Corp. (not likely), eBay (even less likely), Google (no way), or a private equity firm, or a partnership with Google, most analysts seem to agree that Microsoft's bid will be accepted by Yahoo! One of the biggest hurdles in merging two massive Internet properties like these, though, is merging their gigantic and proprietary user authentication systems. There is, however, something that could save Yahoo! and Microsoft engineers from a massive headache in that regard: OpenID.
Yahoo! has some experience in merging identity systems. It has switched Flickr users over to its unified Yahoo! ID system, for example. But merging the hundreds of millions of accounts across the Yahoo! and Microsoft web ecosystems will make the Flickr job seem like child's play.
OpenID, though, could make merging the two systems a relative snap. OpenID is a decentralized identity management system that lets users log into multiple sites using a single set of sign on credentials. The idea is that if everyone supported OpenID, you'd only have to remember one username and password for all your various accounts. Emre Sokullu wrote a great overview of the system last year.
Both companies have dabbled in OpenID support. Last February Bill Gates told a group at the RSA conference that Microsoft would collaborate with JanRain, Sxip, and VeriSign on interoperability between OpenID and Windows CardSpace. Earlier this month Yahoo! gave OpenID its biggest bump by becoming an OpenID provider.
But while Yahoo! is letting its roughly 250 million users make their accounts OpenID compatible, and thus log into other sites using their Yahoo! ID, they're not authenticating OpenIDs from outside providers. That would be necessary in order to use OpenID to merge the sign on systems of Microsoft and Yahoo!
If Micosoft became an OpenID provider via its Live ID system, as Yahoo! has done, and both companies authenticated outside OpenID account on their systems, then users could log into any Microsoft or Yahoo! service with the ID they already have. All that would be left would be a utility to let people link two accounts (i.e., tell OpenID that when I log into Hotmail with the Yahoo! ID I use for Flickr I want to see the Hotmail account I've had for 10 years). As far as I know, this isn't very difficult and is something both companies have experience with from past acquisitions.
Full support of OpenID by both Microsoft and Yahoo! would be a huge win for OpenID, as well. When Yahoo! announced support of OpenID a couple of weeks ago, TechCrunch reported that there were 120 million active OpenID accounts. Adding Yahoo!'s 250 million accounts triples that number. I'm not sure how many accounts are in the Live ID system, but with over 260 million Hotmail users and over 240 million Windows Live Messenger users, you can bet that it's a lot.
So how likely is it that Microhoo adopts OpenID? My best guess is: pretty likely. .NET Windows Passport Live ID is a confusing system for users that changes names every three seconds, while OpenID is quickly becoming the Web 2.0 standard. Further, chief competitor Google also recently became an OpenID provider via Blogger.
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I think i don't agree with yr one conclusion. I think if we follow what the official google blog is saying it looks like Google is trying hard to get yahoo up and running. Microsoft will harm yahoo and eventually Google and the amount of time and energy gone into openness of environments will be lost. Its time for Google to show what it stands for.
Posted by: Vishal Sharma | February 4, 2008 3:54 AMRead in between lines :-)
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/yahoo-and-future-of-internet.html
Well, 1 plus 1 does't always equal to two. I am sure there are many users that are using Hotmail and Yahoo! at the same time, so the maths won't just simply add up. But sure it is great if MS also adopt OpenID for its LiveID system, with the support of MS it would be much easier to popularize OpenID to normal users.
Posted by: Catsondbs | February 4, 2008 4:08 AMMore on what i was referring to
Posted by: Vishal Sharma | February 4, 2008 4:18 AMhttp://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/02/yahoo-in-play-your-handy-guide-to-the-deal-of-the-decade.html
Mr. Catone, seriously!?!? Please provide a single example where Microsoft altruistically joined an open, "people first" organization and then did NOT turn around and try to destroy it.
This isn't cynicism, it based solely on history, Flickr, Pipes, Yahoo's OpenID, support for Microformats inside various Yahoo technologies - will be gone, deleted, erased. Replaced with proprietary, inferior technology that function for one purpose, to lock the user to the Windows operating system.
Posted by: Todd | February 4, 2008 5:33 AMI give you credit for continuing to pound on the OpenID drum but there needs to be a lot more than a marriage between Yahoo and Microsoft to jump-start OpenID. Truth be told, OpenID can be offered all over the place but if users don't see the benefits, then it doesn't matter. If you really want a sense of where OpenID stands, how many tech savvy people are using it and how many popular blogs are offering it. My bet is not many.
Posted by: Mark Evans | February 4, 2008 8:00 AM+1 on Mark's comment, but I'm not sure why everyone presumes that Microsoft would endeavour to integrate services like Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail. The simple mathematics of the matter dictate that YahOo! is well-priced these days for a big-money buyer and has never been so vulnerable to a takeover by another technology company.
Microsoft would do well to maintain Y! as a separate reporting company and let it take pot shots at Google from the online angle while they focus on Google from the OS perspective. Integration of the technologies and services looks like 100% downside to me. How many years would it take to port YahoO! onto Windows Server? :)
-Ian.
Posted by: Ian Bell | February 4, 2008 10:07 AMWow...
That is a loaded question... Judging from the wording of that question there will never be a good enough answer. Perhaps your mind is a little too closed...
As for my opinion Yahoo is dying on the vine. Like Sun, they had their chance to lead but fell short. Now a new kid is in town (Google) and they are cleaning everyone's clock. I say Microsoft should let Yahoo turn to dust and forge ahead with their own strategies.
Posted by: Chris | February 5, 2008 2:34 PMThe benefits of OpenID are quite clear and desirable to anyone who has a minimum of experience with the Web, so I don't see a user adoption problem.
What I do see as a problem is: is it my impression, or does everyone want to be an OpenID provider, but not a consumer???...
It's like there is a race to be the ultimate identity provider, and no one cares about ACCEPTING OpenID...
Take wordpress.com, yahoo.com and other examples.
This is NOT the way to make OpenId viable. All the "social" sites MUST accept OpenID as consumers. They can continue running the race for providers, but if they ignore the consumption side, they're killing the market in its crib.
Posted by: Vasco Névoa | February 7, 2008 5:51 AM