Widget that Web site owners can use to make logging in via OpenID easier

OpenID Selector, a widget that Web site owners can use to make logging in via OpenID easier.

It's a simple thing: It shows a list of OpenID providers and lets users click on the one they know they have an ID with. Then the user logs into their provider, and the site using the widget authenticates against it.

Users who don't have an OpenID can set one up from the widget. The default provider is JanRain's own MyOpenID, which I use and find pretty straightforward.

Major sites, like portals, could still do a much better job pushing the OpenID concept. That would be good for them, not just because it'd make OpenID more accessible to users, but because there's a lot of brand affinity that sites can win by having users authenticate against their sites even when they're using some other company's service. Think of OpenID branding as the affinity credit card of the Web: Every time a user logs on to a service they'd get the authenticator's brand popped up in front of them -- just like Harley-Davidson does when its Visa affinity card users make purchases.

JanRain, not surprisingly, gets this, and will provide a complete white-label OpenID technology infrastructure for companies or brands that want to become authenticators. So if you want to log on to Web sites with an ID from your alma mater or local Rotary club, JanRain will make that possible.

It remains to be seen when, or if, the banks will get this idea, and start leveraging their your-money-is-safe-with-us message into digital safe-keeping as well.