Google combined with plaxo to improve openid

As a concept, openid has great potential. However, this potential has encountered obstacles because openid requires users to jump from the current login website. When Facebook connect also joins the competition, the ease of use of openid is highlighted. In view of this, Google and plaxo work together to design a new openid login workflow to simplify the operation. They also add oauth and Google contact APIs to openid.

Many people know openid but may not have heard of oauth. However, oauth has its own loyal user base. oauth is applied to applications such as Flickr and Netflix. Twitter also promises to support oauth. The combination of oauth and openid can improve the user experience, so that the two technologies can do their best. As a demonstration, you can use your Google account to register a plaxo account.

Working Principle

The working principle of this hybrid mode used by Google and plaxo is to first log on with openid, start oauth proxy authentication, and finally call the Google Contacts API to access the contact information, all of this is transparent to end users.

In step 1, the user initiates an invitation to another user through Gmail, and the invitation contains a "register with Google account" button.

After clicking this button, the new user is directed to the Google account page to determine his identity. The system also provides an option for the user to remember the user.

After accepting the registration request, plaxo will access the user's Google account and associate it with the account. In the end, the user will have a ready-made plaxo account, instead of having to go through the registration process again or remember a set of usernames and passwords.

Important

In the early web, it was not surprising that each website had an independent account. However, it was ridiculous to register new accounts, add contacts, and remember these accounts over and over again, especially when the complexity of passwords is increasingly strict.

With the release of Facebook connect, this digital identity that can be roaming from one website to another is becoming increasingly popular. The ease of use of Facebook connect puts pressure on the openid camp and brings a call for simplified operations.

The efforts of plaxo and Google can demonstrate how to improve the ease of use of all openid to reduce user frustration. However, Eric Eldon of venturebeat thinks there are many things to do:

"The multi-site login claimed by those companies should have better integration and achieve login in one or zero clicks, which is a correct direction ."

Everyone will be the winner

The current situation is not for everyone, or you can survive. In fact, our web environment can coexist with Facebook connect and openid. Because we have different applications that can make both of them reliable and practical.

From an individual's perspective, a user does not use his/her Facebook account for his/her own bank or credit card account, but for social network communication. Similarly, openid has its own application scope.

Facebook has a large user base, and there is a heavyweight big company behind openid. No one in these two camps will exit easily. They feature a dedicated one, but they are very easy to use; one is open but a little complicated. These two technologies will coexist and complement each other. From this perspective, we are both winners.

International Source: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_plaxo_openid_oauth_usability.php
Source: comsharp CMS official website

Additional reading

• Log on to other websites with a Google account
• Openid resource Overview
• Openid is coming, but we won't use
• Google clarified its openid Policy