14 DAY TRIAL // Google has been a big backer of OpenID, though that's not exactly a surprise when you have the login standard's creator, Brad Fitzpatrick, working for you. Fitzpatrick has announced that Google Profiles can now be used as OpenID logins. He has also added that WebFinger for Gmail now supports Google Profiles as well. While any push forward on this front is a good thing, OpenID, in its current form, has several problems and this definitely doesn't solve them.
Adding Google Profiles to the list of sites which can be used as an OpenID identity may be convenient for some people, those already using OpenID or, at least, those who understand it. Google Profiles URLs are easy enough to remember and relatively short, something like http://www.google.com/profiles/user.name. But, it's probably not going to drive adoption and certainly not solve the bigger issue.
There are several groups trying to tackle the online identity problem. With tens or hundreds of sites and services each with their login information and system it can be a nightmare to handle them all. Most people just use the same user name and password, but this opens up a whole lot of potential security issues. For a couple of years several solutions have popped up which promise one set of credentials working across a myriad of sites.
One of the earliest and most promising was OpenID, but it soon became apparent that the system was much too cumbersome to get the kind of traction it needed to actually become useful. Even the more tech-savvy users have problems understanding how it all works and even if they do have to type an entire URL rather than a short user name isn't exactly more convenient which was supposed to be the system's main draw.
Recently, a couple of new systems have popped up, being easier for the user to understand but having their own issues. Facebook has launched Connect, a login standard which allows users to sign up for or log into any site that supports it with their Facebook accounts. Google has also come up with its own similar system with Friend Connect, which enables users to do the same but with their Google Accounts or any OpenID. These are a lot more practical, yet they lock up your identity with a company which may or may not have your best interests at heart. While none of these solutions aren't perfect, things are moving forward with Mozilla, for example, coming up with a different approach to the problem.