Microsoft is to position its Windows Live ID as the ideal solution to managing avatar identities in an age of interoperability. In an interview carried by Reuters, Zain Naboulsi of Microsoft talks about Microsoft’s efforts to encourage adoption of its technologies in conjunction with OpenSim. Microsoft wants programming language C# Express and database system SQL Express to be used to create and run OpenSim environments. More interesting, however, is the suggestion that Microsoft will position its online identity system, Windows Live ID, as the solution to the inevitable difficulty of managing an avatar’s identity in the era of interoperability towards which the virtual worlds industry is slowly marching.
Windows Live ID is the identity system which lies behind login to Microsoft’s online services, such as Windows Live Messenger and Hotmail. It has also made it available to third party developers to use it in their services. For example, Facebook (if it wanted) could enable users to login using their Windows Live username and password. The advantage of this is clear: the user only has to remember one user name and password and can easily control which online service providers have access to their information, and Microsoft gets to be in the powerful position of an identity broker.
However, Microsoft is not the only identity provider seeking to be the answer to a widespread problem on the web. Google has a similar service, but a more high profile option is the open source, distributed OpenID system. This is arguably better than proprietary systems as anyone is able to install the OpenID software and become an identity broker. It would perhaps be a better ideological and technical fit with OpenSim. Another potential obstacle in Microsoft’s way is Linden Labs, whom we reported recently are interested in becoming the guarantor of the infrastructure of interoperability, a central part of which would presumably be managing avatar identity between different worlds.
This is a fascinating problem which has many different potential solutions, not all of them ideal for the user. Ultimately it seems unlikely that any one provider will be able to wrestle control of the coveted position of identity broker, but what is certain is that many will try.
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