Re: Solving Real Problems with Linked Data: Verifiable Network Identity & Single Sign On

Dan Brickley wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 7:05 PM, Kingsley Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com> wrote:
>   
>> Q: What about OpenID?
>>
>> A: The WebID Protocol embraces and extends OpenID via the WebID + OpenID
>>     
>
> That's an unfortunate turn of phrase. The intent I assume is to
> suggest that there are ways in which the two approaches can be used
> together, and ways in which they quite reasonably take differing
> approaches. When they differ, it's through genuine and transparent
> differences rather than industry mischief. The "embrace and extend"
> phrase is rather too closely associated with cynical manipulation of
> partial compatibility for commercial advantage. I suggest avoiding it
> here!

> >From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish
>
> ""Embrace, extend and extinguish,"[1] also known as "Embrace, extend,
> and exterminate,"[2] is a phrase that the U.S. Department of Justice
> found[3] was used internally by Microsoft[4] to describe its strategy
> for entering product categories involving widely used standards,
> extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and then
> using those differences to disadvantage its competitors." [...]
> "The strategy and phrase "embrace and extend" were first described
> outside Microsoft in a 1996 New York Times article entitled "Microsoft
> Trying to Dominate the Internet,"[5] in which writer John Markoff
> said, "Rather than merely embrace and extend the Internet, the
> company's critics now fear, Microsoft intends to engulf it." The
> phrase "embrace and extend" also appears in a facetious motivational
> song by Microsoft employee Dean Ballard,[6] and in an interview of
> Steve Ballmer by the New York Times."
>
> I think we're doing something quite different here!
>
> cheers,
>
> Dan
>
>   

Dan,

Hybrid Protocol then :-)

"Embrace & Extend" is simply my commentary, I do believe taking Username 
and Passwords out of the equation is an "Extension" over OpenID's 
fundamental pattern.

"Embrace and Extend" isn't a bad thing just because Microsoft used it 
mischievously. I actually see it as a way of getting disparate parties 
to discover common frontiers, unobtrusively.

There are two sides to everything, and that includes monikers associated 
with actions and their intentions (for subjective good or bad).

WebID + OpenID Hybrid Protocol is all that really matters.

BTW -- "embracing and extending" started long before Microsoft's problem 
with the Justice Dept.  IMHO our entire human innovation continuum is an 
expression of "Embrace and Extend".  Basically, I see it as antithetical 
to "Not Invented Here" (NIH).

-- 

Regards,

Kingsley Idehen	      
President & CEO 
OpenLink Software     
Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
Twitter/Identi.ca: kidehen

Received on Sunday, 11 July 2010 21:46:17 UTC