To use OpenID or not to use?

Question

I'm new to this site but I've read the rules and also searched the questions section but not found any related question answered well.
anyway, the question: what's the Pros. & Cons. of using OpenID on a website instead of a regular login system? My customer wants me to use this kind of logins for a local sale system & I have no idea, why!? thanks in advance.

Answer 1

OpenId is implemented by Stackoverflow. Since you just signed up you may have experienced the benefits yourself.

Basically, it can be used to allow users to log into the website without creating an account or sending you any of their personal information. As long as they have an account with an OpenId provider that your site supports (Google, for example), they can simply use their google username and password to log in through your site. This can increase customer retention and reduces the likelihood that users will leave due to forgetting their password.

Here is an overview by 37signals.com that explains the benefits of OpenId for their applications: http://www.37signals.com/openid/

And of course you can find lots more information at: http://openid.net/

Answer 2

I can't come up with any reasons not to use it but there are some things you ought to consider.

I would suggest offering OpenID as an alternate mechanism primarily due to lack of user awareness. A lot of developers are not familiar with it so users certainly won't be and it will confuse them when they see OpenID on the signup/login page requesting their Google or Yahoo login/password (What is OpenID? What does my Google login have to do with buying a toaster?). Consequently they will be taken to Google or other site to confirm they want to allow your site to access their login data which might confuse them even further (are these people getting access to my gmail?). From a security standpoint, for all I know, your site could be storing my google login data and I might abandon a login or purchase due to trust issues.

So putting a login/password system on front and openID on the side might be advisable depending on the nature of the site.