This New Firefox Feature Could Solve the Login and OpenID Problems
The good folks over at Mozilla Labs posted a screencast this morning of an experimental new way to log in to websites while using the Firefox browser. The approach leverages the Mozilla Weave platform, an eighteen month old technology that ties together the local browser experience, with online data stored for users.
The new login method lets users log in to an OpenID supporting site or a traditional username/password site with one or zero clicks. It's a password manager, essentially, but it looks like an especially smooth one from one of the most trusted vendors online. And it syncs with the cloud so you could log in to your browser and then your favorite sites from any computer. It looks real nice.
Earlier this week, we argued that browsers and social networks were fast converging, and that with more users and some feature advantages, Firefox could be the best real competition for Facebook. We didn't expect to see a new development this juicy and in support of our theory within just two days! Check out this video, which opens full screen in a new window:
This is just one more chapter in a much larger story - but look how easy this makes OpenID to use! If you're a user of password management software, we'd love to hear how this interface appears compared to your existing tools. I use Sxipper, which does a good job of managing multiple accounts and will fill out whole forms but has an interface that can be pretty obnoxious sometimes. I would miss the form-filler, though, if I left it for this new Weave functionality.
User credentials are just one little form of data that Weave could help us carry from site to site to site. The browser as an instrument of data portability? Bring it on!
Dan Mills, from Mozilla, offers in depth discussion about the approach in his official blog post and the comments there are good. The answer to the big question - "when can I get this?" Soon, Mills says.
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"browser as an instrument of data portability", obviously.
Posted by: Burak Arikan
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May 7, 2009 1:09 PM
The problem is that not every site supports OpenID. I just wrote a story about this yesterday, which is why it piqued my interest. Facebook Connect is more dominant as a universal login, despite the fact that OID has been around for much longer.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/05/twitter-sign-in.html
I mean, just look below my comment. See that big Facebook Connect button? You're more likely to click that than the smaller "Sign in" link below it which includes an option for OpenID.
"when can I get this?"
If using Firefox 3.5 Beta 4, the answer is actually "now" if you install the latest version of Weave.
I wrote about getting OpenID into browsers back in December and was really glad to see this screencast last night of a prototype! http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/12/getting-openid-into-the-browse.html
Posted by: davidrecordon.com
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May 7, 2009 2:27 PM
Mark - sure, but let's please not forget that not everyone has, or should have, a Facebook account. Given their history of playing fast and loose with userdata, I don't think they'd be my login storage service of choice.
@Mark Milian
Did you see the part where he used it for Wordpress login? It works for normal uname / password combo's too
Lets ignore if it's OpenID or Facebook Connect for a moment. I just love the idea that the user's identity should be an attribute of the browser window, not an content state entirely invisible to the browser. I'd argue this same profile state should be used to determine which browser extensions to activate and browser configs.
I just installed it in 3.6a1pre and it offered to sync bookmarks and passwords like xmarks (foxmarks). Also said it is syncing browser history and even tabs which xmarks doesn't do.
Sxipper is the benchmark for me. I also like verisign pip.
How does the Sxipper make money from advertisement? selling statistics?
I am installing for a try.
Hi, could someone please clarify for me how the actual effect of this to the user is different from what Firefox already does - it saves my login information from sites and then auto-logs me in when i go back to those sites. how/why is this different or better?
thanks, stephanie
@Paul
OK, so it supports third-party logins. But how does that make it any different from the Autofill password feature that's been in browsers practically forever?
The idea could be a boon for OpenID, but it might be too little, too late with Facebook Connect's rapid adoption.
Hi, I will try to download this new version. I visit a social netwroking site like Mysocialpoint.com. I don't want so cache my user id on the login form. how to do this,I hope new version will solve my problem. Thanks!
This is a great implementation.. if it can me paralleled with widespread openid adoption.
great article
I have been using firefox for nearly one year is is faster than explorer with many plugins and features. This feaure that you mention is also one of them. Thank you
Very useful plugns for whom that want to avoid from Openid problem.
Very useful plugns for whom that want to avoid from Openid problem.
@Stephanie: No login page that you have to click over to, and then click thru to get yourself logged in.