Prototype unveiled for storing OpenID credentials

MySpace, Flock and Vidoop Tuesday unveiled a jointly developed a prototype tool that will let users store their OpenID credentials in the Flock social Web browser. Mozilla-based Flock allows users to monitor what is happening on their favorite social networks as they surf the Web.

OpenID for Flock is now available to all users of Flock 2.0 as an alpha extension to the browser. The tool automatically notifies users when they surf to a Web site that supports the OpenID framework. The framework, supported by Microsoft and Yahoo, allows people to use a single username and password to enter sites that support it.

The new tool also allows for configuration, management and usage tracking of all the OpenIDs a user has collected, the companies said. Users can choose which of their OpenIDs they want to use to log in for each site; the prototype also allows them to view the log-in history for each OpenID they have created.

Max Engel, product lead for the MySpace data availability platform, said that the tool should help expand the use of OpenID, which will help make the Web easier to use. "I strongly believe we are helping to advance the user experience around OpenID," he said. "We can start soliciting feedback from the broader OpenID community."

The joint MySpace, Flock and Vidoop implementation is a reference design released as open source under the General Public License so that changes from developers will be shared with the entire open-source community, the companies said.