The open identity system OpenID 2.0 was launched today at the Internet Identity Workshop in Mountain View, after what Marshall Kirkpatrick recently described as "a long, long time of political infighting over either semi-relevant minutea or deal-breaking technical details." The new version improves security and usability -- and will hopefully be the catalyst for more Internet companies to adopt it.
According to the announcement, more than 8,000 Web sites currently accept OpenID and this figure is growing by five percent per week - although Marshall mentioned in his post that this figure is down from 7% in February. But support for OpenID is gradually growing; just last week Google Blogger unveiled support in the next version of Blogger. A number of Internet companies, such as digg, have promised to implement OpenID once 2.0 arrived.
Marshall wrote an in-depth critique of OpenID 2.0 a week ago, which I encourage you to read to fully understand the significance of this announcement. OpenID is the way of the future for identity on the Web, so expect more adoption - and deeper support from existing adoptees such as AOL, Google and Microsoft - in 2008 and beyond.
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