History of open identity

In this section

• Google, IBM, Microsoft, Yahoo join the OpenID Foundation

  On 7 February 2008 Google, IBM, Microsoft, VeriSign and Yahoo became corporate board members of the OpenID Foundation. What it meant and how to read the data.

• The European OpenID community and its local chapters

  How volunteer country representatives and national chapters spread OpenID across Europe in 2007 to 2009, what they did, and what their work left behind.

• Facebook Connect vs OpenID: how social login won

  Facebook Connect arrived in 2008 as OpenID was gaining support. Why a single branded button beat an open standard, and what social login costs users today.

• From OpenID to the EU wallet: the road to user-controlled ID

  OpenID promised to put users in charge of their identity in 2005. The EU Digital Identity Wallet is the state-backed attempt, built on OpenID4VP and OpenID4VCI.

• From OpenID to OpenID Connect: what changed in 2014

  OpenID Connect replaced OpenID 2.0 in February 2014. What was kept, what was thrown away, and why building login on top of OAuth 2.0 finally worked.

• Google and Windows Live ID open up to OpenID, October 2008

  In late October 2008 Microsoft previewed an OpenID provider for Windows Live ID and Google announced limited provider support. What each did and did not offer.

• Jabber.org and OpenID in 2008: XMPP meets web login

  In March 2008 the Jabber.org website began accepting OpenID logins. What that meant for open instant messaging, and what became of Jabber.org since.

• Five lessons from OpenID for the EU Digital Identity Wallet

  What the rise and fall of OpenID 2.0 teaches the EU wallet: usability, both sides of the market, phishing, assurance and who sees your logins.

• From Microsoft Passport to passkeys: 25 years of SSO

  From Microsoft Passport and the Liberty Alliance to OpenID, social login, FIDO2 and passkeys: how the dream of one safe login for everything changed form.

• MySpace announces OpenID support in July 2008

  In July 2008 MySpace, then the world's biggest social network, announced OpenID support as part of a data portability push. What it promised and what we know.

• OpenID Authentication 2.0 approved in December 2007

  In December 2007 the OpenID Foundation finalised OpenID Authentication 2.0 and Attribute Exchange 1.0. What changed, who helped and why it still matters.

• OpenID and the Belgian eID in 2009: an unfinished link

  In June 2009 OpenID Europe welcomed a Belgian contact building an OpenID provider. How the Belgian eID card could have been a strong login, and what happened instead.

• What was the OpenID Europe Foundation? A 2007 look back

  The OpenID Europe Foundation was a Belgian non-profit set up in 2007 to promote OpenID in Europe. Goals, bylaws, chapters and what became of it.

• OpenID on tour in Europe: Le Web, FSCONS, Net-ID, Jazoon

  A look at the European conferences where OpenID was presented in 2007 and 2008: Le Web in Paris, FSCONS in Sweden, Net-ID in Basel and Jazoon in Zurich.

• OpenID in government: Romania and Eastern Europe, 2008

  In 2008 a Romanian government programme proposed OpenID for public online services. What the archive shows, how Eastern Europe fits in and what it taught.

• OpenID timeline 2005–2026: from login URL to EU wallet

  A dated timeline of OpenID from its 2005 start through the 2007 to 2009 European community years to OpenID Connect, passkeys and the EU Digital Identity Wallet.

• The OpenID trademark and logo: who owns them today

  Who holds the OpenID name and logo today, how the 2007 European draft policy fits in, and what website owners should check before showing OpenID branding.

• Passpack and OpenID in 2008: a password manager's login

  In September 2008 the online password manager Passpack accepted OpenID and social logins. What it tried, the paradox behind it and how managers sign in now.

• SourceForge accepts OpenID logins in 2008

  In spring 2008 SourceForge, then the best-known home of open source projects, began accepting OpenID logins. What that meant for developers and the standard.

• Clavid 2008: Switzerland's first OpenID identity provider

  Clavid, a Swiss OpenID provider, added smart cards, YubiKey, fingerprints and client certificates in 2008. What it built, why it mattered and what became of it.

• Telecom Italia's Alice adopts OpenID in 2008

  In July 2008 Telecom Italia's Virgilio and Alice portals launched an OpenID provider, counted by the European community as the second telco after Orange.

• What happened to openideurope.eu: from OpenID to today

  openideurope.eu was an OpenID community site from 2007, then parked, reused for a shop and re-registered in 2026. Who runs it now and what happened to old URLs.

• Why OpenID 2.0 faded: five reasons it lost

  OpenID 2.0 had big backers in 2008 and was almost gone a decade later. Five reasons: usability, a lopsided market, phishing, social login and the move to mobile.

• Yahoo becomes an OpenID provider in 2008

  In early 2008 Yahoo announced OpenID 2.0 support and opened a public beta provider for its members. How it worked, what the numbers meant and what came next.

• OpenID meets the YubiKey: Clavid's 2008 two-factor login

  In August 2008 Clavid let OpenID users add a YubiKey as a second factor. How that one-time-code login worked and how it differs from FIDO2 and passkeys today.

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