It seems like every company is launching new features rather silently these days. Remember MyBlogLog’s MicroID support? This time it is MyOpenID.com. The new feature is called MyOpenID for Domains.
What is it about?
So what is this about, you might be wondering. Well, basically it gives several people an OpenID which is tied to a domain a user controls. Still don’t get it? Here’s a quote from the MyOpenID website:
myOpenID for Domains is a new service that helps you give members of your small business, family, or organization an OpenID URL at your own domain. Members get all the features of myOpenID, but get a URL at your domain instead of at myopenid.com. You still own the domain, we just host the identity pages and handle all of the other OpenID stuff.
It works by adding a CNAME entry to the DNS of the domain users control.
Update April 16, 10:33pm: Matthias noted in the comments of his blog that website verification is not done by MicroID. Why? It’s suitable for that purpose, I think.
OpenID for everyone
I think that’s a really great idea because many more people are able to get an OpenID this way. Especially small companies could benefit from it and follow Sun Microsystem’s example by providing OpenIDs for their staff. They won’t have to deal with the technical issues of setting up an OpenID server themselves and securing and maintaining it. Provided the companies trust MyOpenID.com, of course.
A business model?
I often wondered if there was a business model for specialized OpenID providers like MyOpenID.com. MyOpenID for Domains could be one. It is free of charge so far and small to medium sized businesses
are mentioned as example uses on the website. But when is a company not medium sized anymore? MyOpenID.com could offer larger companies the same service for a fee. While this probably won’t be sufficient to survive in the long run, it could be a start to generate revenue.
[via Marshall Kirkpatrick on Twitter]
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