Wither Passport?

Passport was mentioned at the Digital Entertainment Anywhere presentation the other day for the new Windows Media Center 2005 Edition as the authentication method for your subscriptions in the new media player.

It's understandable that Microsoft doesn't want to admit their mistakes, and I don't think I've heard a single thing about Passport since the security breach fiasco and the backlash against Heilstorm.

Since it is still the authentication system for MSN they probably 1) want to distance it from some those sore spots, and 2) want to avoid it distracting/confusing users from the MSN brand identity that they've been developing.

You can't seem to sign in with Passport at Starbucks.com anymore either, it just redirects to customer service.

About a year-and-a-half ago Microsoft repositioned Passport's automated identity-authentication towards intranet use rather than internet use:
http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-999494.html

I don't know whether this has been re-re-positioned, particularly in light of the SP2/Longhorn reprioritizations... search term "site:www.watchingmicrosoftlikeahawk.com passport" doesn't turn up any hits right now.

Context: I don't hear much day-to-day on the Liberty Alliance either:
http://www.libertyproject.org/

Hmm... there are some structural similarities between these and TypeKey, true...? (All provide a "we'll vouch for you" service across varied sites.)

jd

Actually, I think the best analogy to TypeKey is probably Blogger's comments sign-in or Drupal's federated authentication. But the fact that we let (and encourage!) people use TypeKey in their own apps had some wringing their hands about TypeKey being evil like Passport.

Judging by the fact that the same people didn't complain about other blog tools' centralized comment sign-in services indicates to me that it was probably mostly just people being afraid of something new.

That being said, I'm not asking about Passport because of some ostensible competitive thing, I've just always been curious about it. (Some of my very first blog posts were about the Passport sign-in experience.)

"I don't hear much day-to-day on the Liberty Alliance either..."

Then again:
http://news.com.com/2100-7345_3-5415378.html

Like carrying an umbrella to prevent the rain...? ;-)

(I wasn't thinking of it as a competitive thing... just noting how one site provides identity services for many sites, regardless of the ends to which that authentication is eventually put.)

"... people being afraid of something new...."

New stuff is fun to talk about, so.... ;-)

That passport for kids site is definitely creepy indeed. The idea behind Passport is solid - federated identity with a ubiquitous authentication mechanism. I hope Microsoft takes full advantage of it in Longhorn and also encourages developers to understand how important it is...

Microsoft is taking a different tack with identity management through its Infocard initiative:

http://joi.ito.com/archives/2004/10/18/where_did_microsoft_passport_go.html

Scott Mace

Hehe.. some people here would need to get a clue about release notes.