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PDC 2008: Windows Live ID Becomes an OpenID Provider

By Michael Calore October 27, 2008 Categories: Events, Platforms & APIs


Microsoft’s Windows Live service will also become an OpenID provider, the company said Monday. With the announcement, Microsoft has put its full support behind the emerging OpenID standard.

What this means is that you’ll soon be able to use your Windows Live account to sign into any site on the web that supports OpenID — sites like Plaxo, Technorati and Ma.gnolia, plus service platforms like LiveJournal, Movable Type and 37Signals.

Your Windows Live ID login is what you currently use to sign on to Hotmail, MSN Messenger, Spaces or any of Microsoft’s Live services sites.

The Windows Live ID OpenID Provider (OP) framework is now available as a technology preview. Users won’t be able to to use their Windows Live ID at OpenID sites just yet, but the service is available for public testing right now. The official release will be in 2009.

Kim Cameron made the announcement at the PDC developer event here in Los Angeles. Cameron is the Chief Architect of Identity in Microsoft’s Connected Systems Division. He also independently runs a blog on internet identity.

So, why support OpenID? And why now? Microsoft’s Jorgen Thelin offers this explanation on the Live.com developer’s blog:

All Windows Live product teams are committed to supporting open standards where such standards are relevant to our work and when they reach a sufficient level of maturity, and the Windows Live ID Team is no exception. We have been tracking the evolution of the OpenID specification, from its birth as just a dream and a vision through its development into a mature, de facto standard with terms that make it viable for us to implement it now.

Windows Live ID OP will only support the OpenID 2.0 protocol. Also, you can get a test account now (full details are at the bottom of the dev.live.com post) but those accounts are not intended to be used as permanent or reliable Open ID accounts.

Again, full support will arrive in 2009, and if recent research is any indication, there are still a few significant usability hurdles for OpenID to overcome before it sees wide adoption. So, test it now and let Redmond know what you think.

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