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Source:CenterNetworks

The OpenID group will announce today at the Web 2.0 Expo some new functionality for the login option. I’ve written many times before that OpenID has the technology down but the usability and marketing is lacking. Today’s launch is the OpenID Selector (pictured below) which allows a user to click the box to enter their name and be presented with a variety of services that support OpenID. Once a user has successfully logged in once using a service in the selector, the selector will be pre-filled in for future login needs on any OpenID enabled site.

I spoke at length with the group leading the OpenID charge, Janrain’s Brian Kissel and Tore Steen last week. I enjoyed chatting with them as I find OpenID to be a powerful vehicle and it’s interesting to learn what’s going on from their side. From my side, I am starting to believe that we don’t need to market the term ‘OpenID’ to consumers. No one cares about the technology, they only want to login to their favorite service using their AOL or Google id. It’s like TCP/IP, no one cares how it works, just that our email shows up in the inbox and Twitter loads when we want to tell our friends we just saw Britney at CVS. I’d still like to see a browser plugin that allows me to login once and passes the info around as needed - that’d be super hot.

With that said, this OpenID Selector is a great first step towards mainstream adoption. Rafe Needleman at Webware has some additional commentary on the release.

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Source:CenterNetworks

Etelos is launching their AOP (apps on a plane) platform which allows developers to provide consumers a way to consume their applications anywhere at anytime with changes sent back to the application when the user is back online. The platform was launched conceptually last year and now moves into a live public beta today. No matter what language the application is built in (php, ruby, cold fusion, etc.) or what desktop operating system you run (windows, mac, linux, etc.), the platform will let you work offline as close to online as possible.

I spoke with Etelos executives last week who explained that this new AOP platform is a SaaS (software as a service) and the strength is in the marketplace. Applications that utilize the AOP platform will be listed in the marketplace bringing new customers to the applications. This will also be one of the methods that Etelos will employ to drive revenue. They also stressed the patents that have been filed by Etelos around the technology.

Etelos explains how the developer components work, "A developer working on an existing application can enable that application to exchange data with any other AOP-enabled application and run offline or online without having to change the application¹s code. Developers also can create new applications using many popular tools that they are comfortable with, allowing them to build applications that communicate with many popular platforms. Developers can assure their customers increased data control, availability, and offline and online accessibility."

I asked about any comparisons to Adobe’s AIR product but the answers made me think they were comparing it to Flash and not AIR.

With hosting clouds, mobile access and desktop availability from Web apps, I believe we will see more services like Etelos’ AOP offering this year. It’s about making us more effective when we want to be effective so we can have downtime when we want it. Being able to work on a plane across the country or the world might give us back 10 hours of downtime to enjoy offline.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 6:04 am and is filed under web 2.0, Quick News, etelos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.