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So we have this, Open ID, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft Passport/Live ID, and probably like five other major players I'm forgetting. I apologize for being pessimistic, but this just doesn't seem like a solvable problem. I want it to be solvable, but players like Facebook benefit far too much for them to not push their particular version of "universal" login on everyone. Every player seems to think they are the One True Solution... But so far, it's all one big mess. I don't see it getting better any time soon.

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I think if you look at Kim Cameron's Laws of Identity, it's clear that the research team at MS has had it right for at least a decade, it's just that none of their ideas have made it into production.

http://www.identityblog.com/stories/2004/12/09/thelaws.html

Ballmer had both the plans and source code for an identity product that would have been 10x more advanced than Facebook, but they decided to axe the project so they could make the Zune instead.

Ballmer had both the plans and source code for an identity product that would have been 10x more advanced than Facebook

ANYONE can make an identity product that is 10x more advanced than Facebook.

The problem is making an identity product that is 10x SIMPLER than Facebook, without relying on a single source of identity verification.

BrowserID is designed to be integrated into the browser. There are some huge usability benefits possible when your browser can log in for you. If the browser UI succeeds in reducing friction for signup and login, that could motivate sites to adopt the protocol.

There is work underway to transparently proxy between several major identity providers and the BrowserID protocol that underlies Mozilla Persona:

  https://github.com/mozilla/browserid-bigtent

we had dozens of search engines when google came out. someone just hasn't got it right yet.

And yet some would argue that Google has begun to get search wrong. What happens when the "right" identity solution does the same?

You get another one. There's no true stability in this world. You try your best to find an optimal solution and keep working at it.

you could argue, but statistics would show you otherwise for the foreseeable future. regardless of wether or not they are 'losing it' they clearly got it right for a very long time.

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