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At first glance it seems nontrivial. As with most problems like this that can be decomposed into algorithms and datastructures, technology provides a solution.
by Todd 16y ago
At first glance it seems nontrivial. As with most problems like this that can be decomposed into algorithms and datastructures, technology provides a solution. OpenID, OAuth, and Open Social were all developed to solve similar problems.
My guess is that there will be half a dozen competing protocols within a year.
- jacquesm 16y agoBetter to have one good one.
- cookiecaper 16y agoRight, and how successful are those protocols you've named? They all have relatively limited deployment and usage even though they've been around for years. OpenID is a nice idea but people don't want to remember a URL and a username and a password. People don't want to remember a "master URL" to give to each new social app they sign up for -- they want what Facebook gives; just sign up with a traditional username and password and start finding your friends immediately. And, again, even then, if we follow the OpenID model of external providers, it's all about trusting that external provider with your data. There's still a central point with your data on it. There has to be. Unless the user is self-hosting this data, there is always a reliance on external entities. And how long could an external provider survive merely as a host for applications like Facebook, while not pulling in any revenue from Facebook's revenue channels like ads or Credits?