Number of social networking websites are spreading very fast these days. Every alternate day I get an email in my mail box where some friend of mine invites me to join a weird named social networking website. And the funny part is that every time these fellows expect me to upload all my images in their albums plus write down all my information (and mark what other can see and what others cannot) in their complicated looking websites. Then they want me to invite other friends of mine and start talking to them using their bandwidth. Alright, but why?

If they actually want users to switch to their kind-of social networking website then these people need to ease the login process. Working in this same direction leading developers from Google and Facebook, among many other, have recently agreed to be a part of DataPortability, a website which encourages online companies to leverage existing technologies to share user data across other websites. This means that you won’t have to re-enter details or upload photographs all over again on some new social networking websites you just signed on to.

For the end user this means that Internet will be a common platform which you can personalize to your tastes and interests with all data and information seamlessly accessible, while saying bye-bye to your privacy. Little hard work from the the big players of the game and I am sure this concept could actually be the one we all will love to use.

The king of web browsers back in 1990’s, Netscape Navigator, finally passed the torch to Mozilla Firefox on February 1st, 2008. In a posting to Netscape’s blog, Tom Drapeau writes:

While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Recently, support for the Netscape browser has been limited to a handful of engineers tasked with creating a skinned version of Firefox with a few extensions.

AOL’s focus on transitioning to an ad-supported web business leaves little room for the size of investment needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many of its fans expect it to be. Given AOL’s current business focus and the success the Mozilla Foundation has had in developing critically-acclaimed products, we feel it’s the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox.

Do have a look at CNET’s original coverage of the mouth watering deal of AOL acquiring Netscape for 4.2 billion in 1998.

Few important queries which you might have in your brains are answered on the Netscape blog. They are listed below:

Q: What will this mean?
A: We’ll continue to release security patches for the current version of the browser, Netscape Navigator until February 1, 2008. After February 1, there will be no more active product support for Navigator 9, or any previous Netscape Navigator browser. This includes Netscape v1-v4.x, Netscape v6, Netscape v7 Suite, Netscape Browser v8, and Netscape Navigator/Messenger 9.

Q: I use Netscape now. Now that Netscape is stopping support, what do I do?
A: The Netscape Team fully stands behind the fine work being done by the Mozilla Foundation. We recommend that you download Mozilla Firefox and give it a try. We know you’ll enjoy it!

Q: Will I still be able to use Netscape?
A: You will still be able to download old versions of Netscape from the Netscape Archive (link coming). However, these products are no longer supported. Our recommendation for the nostalgic out there is to download Mozilla Firefox, and add on the Netscape theme and Netscape extensions which are available here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/user/56836

This way you’ll have a current web browser that is very secure, and has the look and feel you have grown accustomed to with Netscape.

Q: Will anyone be around to answer my questions?
A: The following sites will continue to exist and offer information about Netscape after February 1, 2008: The UFAQ (http://www.ufaq.org/), the Netscape Archive, the Netscape Community Forum

Please bear in mind that no active product support will be available.

Q: Does this mean that Netscape is dead?
A: While we will no longer support the Netscape web browser as of February 1, 2008, Netscape.com (http://www.netscape.com) will still continue to serve as a general use Internet portal.

A year back Bill Gates announced that Microsoft will be supporting the OpenID concept and that was enough to launch OpenID in the ever expanding web 2.0.  At that time OpenID was accepted by some 500 services including LiveJournal, social networking site Vox and photo-sharing site Zooomr. But that wasn’t enough for the OpenID concept to actually takeover the Internet.

To be frank OpenID has been suffering from huge marketing problems. People have accounts over a couple of websites which support the OpenID concept but I am very sure that they have no idea what is OpenID and what are it’s benefits. People still prefer using their respective login accounts for different services instead of using OpenID for all of them.

But with the recent announcement by Yahoo that it’s 926 applications will be supporting OpenID and Google enabling the OpenID support for the blogger users, the OpenID concept is set to rise. I hope the two giants will be able to bring the concept of OpenID to the masses and some day I will be able to use one single ID for my yahoo, gmail, orkut, wordpress, blogger ….. accounts!

Microsoft is NOT always against Open Source. Bill Gates announcement that Microsoft was going to support a distributed identity system known as OpenID is the proof to that. Gates, who is pushing for an information world where certificates — not passwords — control access to services and programs, said OpenID and Microsoft’s approaches were “complementary”. Microsoft plans to integrate OpenID with CardSpace.

What is OpenID?
OpenID is an open and distributed system that allows a user to log-in to multiple sites via a single user-name that is a URL. When trying to log-in to a service, the user is diverted back to their authentication site, where they enter their password, and the identity site tells the web service that the person is who he/she says he/she is…

What is CardSpace?
Windows CardSpace, formerly codenamed “InfoCard”, is a piece of client software that enables users to provide their digital identity to online services in a simple, secure and trusted way. It is what is known as an identity selector: when a user – or subject – needs to authenticate to a website or a web service, CardSpace pops up a special security-hardened UI with a set of “cards” for the user to choose from. Each card has some identity data associated with it – though this is not actually stored in the card – and has been given to the user by an identity provider such as their bank, employer or government. In fact, the user can also act as an identity provider – this is essentially what we do every time we register at a website.

The CardSpace UI enables users to create Personal cards and associate a limited set of identity data. When the user chooses a card, a request in the form of a web service call goes to the relevant provider, and a signed and encrypted security token is returned containing the required information (e.g. credit limit, employer’s name and address, or perhaps a social security number). The user, in control of the flow of information at all times, then decides whether to release this information to the requesting online service. If the user approves then the token is sent on to this relying party where the token is processed and the user is authenticated.

OpenID is now accepted by some 500 services including LiveJournal, social networking site Vox and photo-sharing site Zooomr.

The problem as usual will be security. History tells that each and every time companies have tried to make things easier for the consumer, it has left out security loop holes. And many times serious ones. Here again if they collect all the login info for users at one place than there servers will be gold mine for hackers. But now Microsoft behind it, it surely is gonna get fame quick. But remember Microsoft and Security are two sides of coin, which do not meet.

Update: Thanks to a “hidden” online friend, I missed to mention in this post the sources where you can get an OpenID for free. Or you can choose from other OpenID providers. You can read more at OpenID Enabled.

Source: Wired
Image Source: NewsFactor