14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter is ready to make the permanent switch to the next-generation authentication system it’s been developing along with others in the industry. The microblogging service has announced that it will drop support for basic authentication from the Twitter API, opting instead for OAuth, which provides a simpler and safer way for users to connect to the service using third-party apps and services.
“[Y]ou're going to be hearing a lot from me over the next 9 weeks. our plan is to turn off basic authorization on the API by June 30, 2010 -- developers will have to switch over to OAuth by that time. between now and then, there will be a *lot* of information coming along with tips on how to use OAuth Echo, xAuth, etc. we really want to make this transition as easy as we can for everybody,” Raffi Krikorian, from the Twitter Platform Team, wrote.
The switch is scheduled to take place a little over nine weeks from now. After that point, apps using basic authentication won’t be able to connect to the Twitter API. There is one notable exception, the streaming API, which enables developers to access public Twitter statuses in near-real-time, will still support basic authentication after June 30.
Twitter has launched a new site, countdowntooauth.com, which, you guessed it, features a countdown for the date of the switch. Come June 30, OAuth will be the only authentication scheme supported, for the most part.
OAuth has several advantages over the existing technology, the biggest one being that it doesn’t require users to give up their account credentials to third parties. Apps won’t need to have the full username and password to access the API, the authentication will be done by Twitter itself, which will then enable users to grant access to the apps. Twitter owes a lot to its API developers and it’s not clear how many apps will be affected by the move. Most apps should be able to make the switch, though, and many have already, as OAuth has been supported for quite a while.