(Originally posted at Cloud Avenue)

Windows Live™Microsoft’s Windows Live ID team just announced their support for OpenID calling it a “de facto standard Web protocol for user authentication.”

Beginning today, Windows Live™ ID is publicly committing to support the OpenID digital identity framework with the announcement of the public availability of a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Windows Live ID OpenID Provider.

You will soon be able to use your Windows Live ID account to sign in to any OpenID Web site!

What does it means for users?

OpenID allows users to maintain their identity information (Name, E-Mail, address, etc.) on a single provider and use that information to register and login to any website that supports OpenID. This relieves the user from having to fill out registration form and maintaining multiple different user names and passwords and profiles on different sites add provides a simplified online experience while increasing security.

Over 400 million LiveID users will soon be able to use their LiveID to do just that – login and provide identity information to any site supporting OpenID without the hassles of filling out registration forms and saving user\password information and with the user experience common to all OpenId sites (or, maybe even common to their familiar LiveID user interface?)

The wide adoption of OpenID led by Yahoo and Microsoft provides the required push for site owners to support OpenID providing the same simple and familiar login interface everywhere…

What does it mean for web developers?

With a simple integration effort that shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes, site owners can relieve themselves from taking care of authentication and registration process while providing their users with a simple familiar interface for signing up and using their services.
OpenID provides an easy and secure mechanism for authenticating and registering users, and with additional online services (like JanRain’s RPX) site owners can handover the entire care of handling their user information to the cloud – cheaper, faster, more secure.

For now, the LiveID team is testing their system’s OpenID Provider which is at a CTP (Community Technology Preview) stage. Widespread support is planned for “sometime in 2009″.

[Update: Screencast Overview]

Tags: Cloud Avenue, Federated Identity, LiveID, Microsoft, OpenID, Security, Windows Live, Yahoo

It seems like Microsoft and Yahoo! are talking again to such an extent that is was either required, or in Microsoft’s interest to release the following statement:

Microsoft Issues Statement Regarding Yahoo!

Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business.

REDMOND, Wash. — May 18, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today issued the following statement:

“In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business.  Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo!  Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties.

“There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions.”

This comes just a day after Carl Icahn proposed to replace the Yahoo! board in an attempt to revive the Microsoft acquisition deal…

The current guess is that Microsoft will try to buy just Yahoo’s search business in an effort to prevent a Yahoo-Google deal that’ll make Google take over Yahoo’s paid search business.

I guess there will be more to come on that…

Tags: Microsoft, MSFT, Yahoo, YHOO

Some first thoughts about the implications of Microsoft taking over Yahoo:

• Microsoft’s Vista Gadgets suck. Yahoo has it going pretty well with its widgets that work on many platforms other than Vista.
  Maybe Microsoft will drop Gadgets and support widgets natively?
• Yahoo Messenger is already integrated with Microsoft’s messenger. And its .NET and has a cool new WPF interface. Maybe it can replace buggy Microsoft Messenger.
• Synergy in Live Services:
  • Microsoft Popfly and Yahoo Pipes (Popfly has things to learn from Pipes)
  • Yahoo’s small business services + Office Live (and CRM live, etc.)
  • Online gaming. Microsoft has its gaming studios and Xbox Live! and Yahoo is big on fantasy sports. There’s room for synergy there…
    Yahoo’s online games could be a nice addition to Microsoft’s casual gaming platform.
  • Yahoo Finance to join Microsoft Live Services and take on Google Finance?

Lots of synergy opportunities out there…  I can see why Microsoft+Yahoo makes perfect sense…

Tags: Microsoft, MSFT, Yahoo, YHOO

There has been a lot of rumors and Dennis Howlett just broke the news on ZDnet. It’s also on FT now…
It’s interesting that I got the news via Twitter before the online media broke the story…

Jeff Pulver suggests (on Twitter) that Google (GOOG) is a potential competitor to Microsoft’s offer.
Now, while everything is possible, I don’t think this is going to be the case since the the two companies simply have an opposite strategy - which will result in a big cultural clash.Google has always been about automated content - automated search, news aggregation and even shopping. Yahoo on the other hand has always been about human generated content - people using its services to generate content (Yahoo started as a service for people to classify web-sites).

I think Yahoo fits exactly into Microsoft’s Live Services strategy and such a takeover (if it takes place) will grately enhance the live services platform - which makes MSFT and YHOO and great fit together.

Anyway, It looks like its going to be an interesting trade day on NASDAQ today…

Tags: GOOG, Google, Microsoft, MSFT, Yahoo, YHOO