What happened to “software as a service?” CNET has an article about the struggles of MS Passport and the whole “.Net My Services” initiative. A few years back, I recall hearing how we all would be downloading MS Office apps and renting application functionality a month or year at a time (instead of installing and licensing it on our own computer the conventional way). It would be integrated via Passport and life would be good. While .Net My Services was all about identity-based web services for cross-application convenience, and “Software as a Service” is more about sales strategy, I see the two issues linked together.
The software as a service idea may be a bit ahead of its time (or, perhaps, not such a good idea after all). I don't have a strong opinion either way, but I'm relieved to see Passport isn't as pervasive as Microsoft envisioned. Rushing to be the first into the “store everybody's credit card and personal information in one spot“ space is not something to take lightly, and I don't know that the Liberty Alliance is in a better position to lead the charge. You don't want to be the group that gets its wrong -- too much is at stake. I don't even know that the goal is worth achieving, to be frank. The fact that Microsoft is backing off of Passport is not bad news.
While I applaud Microsoft for taking the risk, I also applaud them for having the strength to back off. We shouldn't live by the credo: If at first you don't succeed, don't admit you tried. I feel the same about all the Windows and Microsoft security vulnerabilities that are broadcast . . . don't think that RedHat or other companies are free of these kind of problems -- Microsoft has a standard mechanism for broadcasting and communicating the problems (and the solutions!); at least they have the courage to announce the problem and move on; Microsoft's enormous visibility makes them an attractive target to the black-hat hacker community.
Happy .Netting!