Your Gmail account is now an openid

You may not know it, but you probably have an openid. If you have a yahoo
Account, you have an openid. If you have a Windows
Live account, you will soon have an openid. And today, if you have a Google
E-mail account, you can also start using your Gmail
Address as an openid.

By joining the openid movement, Google completes the trifecta and Adds all
Its Gmail users to the hundreds of millions of Yahoo and Windows Live accounts
That can also be used as a single login for any website that accepts openid.
While Google is more than happy to become an issuer of openids, what is not so
Clear is whether it will accept other openids for people who want to sign up
Google services.

Google appears to be an openid "provider," not a "relying party." In other
Words, you cannot sign into Google with your Yahoo account. But this still helps
The openid movement as a whole because it gives smaller sites more incentive
Join as "relying parties." Among the first sites to accept Gmail accounts
Sign in are zoho and plaxo.

AOL and MySpace are expected to jump abard as openid providers as well.
Only big holdout appears to be Facebook, which has its own competing Facebook
Connect program. But even Facebook might
Eventually join the openid fold. (its partners seem slightly less
Than enthusiastic about deploying Facebook Connect ).