Subscribe to Optaros RSS feedAfter a number of folks noticed code referring to OpenID showing up in Flickr pages (I think this was first noted at Mashable), there's been much speculation about Yahoo! becoming an OpenID provider.
Today Yahoo! made it official. From the press release:
Yahoo!'s initial OpenID service, which will be available in public beta on January 30, enables a seamless and transparent web experience by allowing users to use their custom OpenID identifier on me.yahoo.com or to simply type in "www.yahoo.com" or "www.flickr.com" on any site that supports OpenID 2.0. Alternatively, web sites that accept OpenID 2.0 will be able to add a simple "Sign-in with Your Yahoo! ID" button to their login pages that will make it even easier for their users. Yahoo! is working with several partners, including Plaxo and JanRain, to make it possible for users to access these sites with their Yahoo! ID from the first day of the public beta.
This is great news for the OpenID community, for Yahoo! users, and for the web in general. Having Yahoo! support not only adds to the (already substantial) set of large enterprises who have accepted and validated the standard, but potentially creates an opportunity to make OpenID more user friendly, in terms of marketing the standard. (SpreadOpenID is great, but having Yahoo! talking up the benefits of OpenID is even better).