Chris Messina just posted a long, thoughtful and informative blog on the rise and fall of his erstwhile employer, local Portland identity provider Vidoop.
For those of us in the Portland tech community who welcomed Vidoop, saw our friends and colleagues go to work for them, and—in my case at least—starting using their OpenID provider service myVidoop—the whole series of events is mostly sad. I truly liked everyone I met from Vidoop and really appreciated their work and contributions to our community, like their hosting of the CyborgCamp 2009 pre-party.
I strongly agree with Chris that the fall of Vidoop can not be read as a failure of OpenID or other open web technologies, standards, or practices.
It is in fact the strength of OpenID that I was able to switch my OpenID delegation to our other local Portland identity provider, Janrain’s MyOpenID, in a matter of minutes and have no interruption in my identity services. What happened with Vidoop proves the value of controlling my own identity via OpenID and merely using providers and other services as I need them.
Vidoop: I’m truly sorry. For those of you who needed to learn lessons, I hope you did. For all the Vidoopers and their customers, I hope what happens next is a good thing.
For OpenID: I’m with you even more than before.
Thanks Nate — I think this is a really good read of my post. I also think that your experience of switching OpenID providers underscores my point that the technology is sound, regardless of the fate of Vidoop (the company).
All in all, I’m glad that I went to work for Vidoop because the caliber of the individuals who made up the company was really high. Had there been more of a focus or commitment to a particular direction, maybe things would have turned out differently; but maybe not. At least I can close this chapter and get going on the next thing!