Higgins vs. InfoCard for authentication
Today we're supposed to see a
response from IBM and Novell regarding the Higgins Project, described as
"Higgins is a framework that will enable users and enterprises to integrate identity, profile, and relationship
information across multiple systems." Essentially it's a way to centralize all your logins, and should eventually
encompass your online registrations. The difference between Higgins and InfoCard, which is Microsoft's
one-for-all sign-in that will hold your payment data across multiple sites, is the difference between open source and
proprietary systems. Neither side appears to be backing down or coming to terms, although the Higgins folks have made
overtures to MS for including InfoCard support in the Higgins system. Does anyone remember the spectacular success of
the Passport system? I thought so. Let's see what happens, because I'm kinda rooting for Higgins here. If Microsoft did
participate, in theory, you'd be able to use InfoCard on Linux. Who doesn't want that? I guess it comes down to who do
you trust...[Via Cnet]












Comments
2
Subscribe to commentsLoganFeb 27th 2006 10:11AM
Finally! I've been looking for some sort of basket I can keep all my eggs in.
DeanoFeb 27th 2006 10:15AM
Obviously such systems are security risks in their own right. If you sign up you have a single point of weakness that once exposed means all your logins and passwords are compromised.
I just don't like these systems. It is entirely possible to remember your various ids if you're disciplined and have a system that allows you to generate and remember unique passwords for each site.
Allowing Google, Microsoft or whomever to manage this info is going to take a lot more convincing in my opinion.