for example, the task of installing OpenID for blog commenting on wordpress 2.0.

going to the openidenabled.com website and searching for “wordpress” i get 7 results, only 2 of which are really relevant to wordpress at all. and one of those is simply a link to the other. So that one relevant link, which is http://www.openidenabled.com/Members/http-3A-2F-2Fedulix.videntity.org-2F/openid-plugin-for-wordpress/openid-full-tar.bz2/view is mostly a list of comments complaining about the lack of documentation! (the zip for the plugin contains NO readme. not good)

Ok, so onto google. A quick google of wordpress turns up some more useful links, which are more detailed than the directions on the openid site itself. Essentially, the “beta” plugin has dependencies as documented a few comments down on http://photomatt.net/2006/04/14/openid-for-wp/

overall, a pretty tedious process compared to how easy most other WP plugins are.

the openid site is effectively expansive, but difficult to navigate. this is a huge hinderance to the effectiveness of the mission of the project. how is it that something dedicated to make one process easy exists in a site that is possibly one of the most confusing i’ve ever experienced?

OpenID libraries exist for half a dozen major development platforms, including php , java, and .net. But with all of the other authentication schemes that are practically turn key, what incentive is there for a developer to impliment something that requires tons of digging just to get a mediocre set of documentation? The concept is gold. unfortunately, it’s a the bottom of a pretty rapid riverbed right now. I’m not sure how to even start panning for the value.

for example, the task of installing OpenID for blog commenting on wordpress 2.0.

going to the openidenabled.com website and searching for “wordpress” i get 7 results, only 2 of which are really relevant to wordpress at all. and one of those is simply a link to the other. So that one relevant link, which is http://www.openidenabled.com/Members/http-3A-2F-2Fedulix.videntity.org-2F/openid-plugin-for-wordpress/openid-full-tar.bz2/view is mostly a list of comments complaining about the lack of documentation! (the zip for the plugin contains NO readme. not good)

Ok, so onto google. A quick google of wordpress turns up some more useful links, which are more detailed than the directions on the openid site itself. Essentially, the “beta” plugin has dependencies as documented a few comments down on http://photomatt.net/2006/04/14/openid-for-wp/

overall, a pretty tedious process compared to how easy most other WP plugins are.

the openid site is effectively expansive, but difficult to navigate. this is a huge hinderance to the effectiveness of the mission of the project. how is it that something dedicated to make one process easy exists in a site that is possibly one of the most confusing i’ve ever experienced?

OpenID libraries exist for half a dozen major development platforms, including php , java, and .net. But with all of the other authentication schemes that are practically turn key, what incentive is there for a developer to impliment something that requires tons of digging just to get a mediocre set of documentation? The concept is gold. unfortunately, it’s a the bottom of a pretty rapid riverbed right now. I’m not sure how to even start panning for the value.

So the real power is in hcard + openid + XFN.

Think on that for a spell.