OpenID, Yahoo, and “Support”

This morning while reading feeds on the train I saw a headline that Yahoo announced support for OpenID. Awesome, I thought. Then I read the article and was disappointed again, just like I had been many times in the past. Yahoo was going to become an OpenID provider. In other words, you can use your Yahoo ID to log into OpenID-enabled services. Yahoo has joined the growing list of sizable companies (AOL is coming to mind) who have jumped on as OpenID providers, but are still put up walls and require that if you want to sign into their site, you need to sign up with them.

How is that “open”?

There’s nothing wrong with Yet Another OpenID Provider, but I don’t think the issue that’s stopping OpenID adoption is a lack of providers. It’s a lack of consumers. When I go to any of the big-name internet properties such as Microsoft, Facebook, Myspace, Yahoo, or Flickr (part of Yahoo), I don’t see a “Log in with your OpenID” box. Heck, even geek-central Slashdot lacks OpenID authentication support.

Companies which become OpenID providers but not consumers really aren’t doing anyone any favors. They still require that you create an account (and usually give them a fair amount of personal information) in order to use their services. And then, once they have all your information, they don’t mind if you happen to bounce off their server for authentication. They’ve got your info. They’ve got what they want.

Feel free to comment below, using OpenID