Microsoft, IBM, Google and Yahoo have announced that they have all agreed to join the Open ID Foundation. OpenID, conceived by Google software engineer Brad Fitzpatrick, aims to reduce the need for multiple user accounts and troublesome password remembering.
The principal of the scheme is to allow users to nominate one identity which can then be used to access all sites that accept OpenID. However, questions are still to be answered in relation to how functionality like webmail will be accessed. In principal the idea is sound and with VeriSign backing the venture alongside the big 4, we should look forward to watching this one develop.
