The OpenID service means that a Yahoo can use their Yahoo ID to register with any other site using OpenID 2.0, eliminating the need to create many separate IDs and log-ins for different web sites.
The initial OpenID service will be available for public beta on January 30. Web sites that accept OpenID 2.0 will be able to add a simple “Sign-in with Your Yahoo! ID” button to their login pages that will make it even easier for their users.
“A Yahoo ID is one of the most recognisable and useful accounts to have on the internet and with our support of OpenID, it will become even more powerful,” said Yahoo executive vice-president for platforms and infrastructure Ash Patel.
“Supporting OpenID gives our users the freedom to leverage their Yahoo! ID both on and off the Yahoo! network, reducing the number of usernames and passwords they need to remember and offering a single, trusted partner for managing their online identity,” Mr Patel said.
OpenID is an open, decentralised, free framework for user-centric digital identity, which eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites. OpenID is still in the adoption phase, but is becoming more popular as large organisations like AOL, Microsoft, Sun, Novell and others begin to accept and provide OpenIDs.
Today it is estimated that there are over 120 million OpenID-enabled URLs with nine thousand sites supporting OpenID logins.
“Today’s announcement by Yahoo supporting OpenID is the realisation of three years of hard work from this extremely passionate community of developers,” said Scott Kveton, chairman of the OpenID board of directors. “I have never met a more committed set of people focused on doing “the right thing” all the time.”
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