Mozilla's Google and Facebook Authentication Competitor Persona in Beta This Month

Mozilla's Persona identity and authentication technology is taking shape. The first beta release is coming this month and Mozilla is already talking about the stable version of the APIs included in Personas.

A stable set of APIs is crucial for an authentication technology, but security is also a big issue, so the goal is to get it right the first time.

"Later this month, we will be announcing the first 'beta' release of Persona. Part of that announcement will include committing to long-term support for our APIs, so that developers can more confidently rely on Persona in their sites and applications," Mozilla explained.

With the upcoming stable release, Mozilla also has to layout plans to deprecate features and APIs as they evolve. After the stable release, any deprecated feature will be announced six months in advance, Mozilla says. Depending on the feedback, that deadline may be extended with an additional six months.

However, things like security vulnerabilities will be fixed a lot sooner than that, immediately in some cases, depending on severity.