OpenID: WTF is it, why TF it helps

I can admit that ignored what an OpenID is mostly until last week.

Yeah, I suppose that’s embarrassing for a man of my enormous stature. …Right.

Well, if you don’t have one or just might like to know what gives about the vague-sounding device, let me give you a quick tour.

Let’s first say I registered my (free) OpenID with MyVidoop, though there are others.

And you wanna know what one of those others are? WordPress – the site with whom I host this site! So while I have my domain ChristopherWink.com, the WordPress blog to which that domain directs – ChristopherWink.WORDPRESS.com – could serve as my OpenId. …Oh.

Here’s their quick definition of an OpenID:

OpenID is an open standard that lets you sign in to other sites on the Web using your WordPress.com account. This means less usernames and passwords to remember and less time spent signing up for new sites.”

So, yes, I didn’t need to get an OpenID because I use WordPress. But perhaps you don’t and you still want to know about this strange OpenID thingy. Check this good video from MyVidoop, whom you can get YOUR OpenId, assuming you want one and don’t use WordPress or another service that offers you one.

Any questions? Did I get anything (else) wrong? Let me know below!

Image from JohnBritton.com.

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