Posted 10:01 AM

At last, real work for OpenID

Sun's Tim Bray posted a note earlier this week (OpenID at Work) which has stirred a mini-tempest in a small teapot.

Tim points out that Sun has brought up an OpenID Identity Provider ("OP" in OpenID speak) and comments (reflecting the thinking of many in the wide realm of identity) that:
"What’s probably more interesting in the big picture is that openid.sun.com shows that OpenID can be put to work on something with actual business value."

The gist is that only Sun employees can get an OpenID at openid.sun.com, so any person successfully authenticating to a Relying Party (RP)/Service Provider(SP) with an OpenID URI based on that domain could safely be assumed to be a Sun employee. No need for further attribute exchange, no need for anything else, really, except prior setup at the RP/SP to recognize the URI stub.

Some feel this is going beyond the OpenID spec, which it is. But in the absence of an approval for attribute exchange, OpenID has potential for "real work" but only potential. Here's the opportunity for actual work.