I finally got around to setting up an OpenID module on a couple of sites and can see how it will save me time and make my systems more secure.

Pretty much everyone uses a couple of common username/passwords on every site. It's just far too difficult for everyone to have unique usernames & passwords for every site that wants you to have a membership. Sure you can have these stored in your browser's cache to speed things up, and yes, most now have easy ways that you can reclaim your password as long as you can remember what email address you used to sign into the account, but still it is annoying.

OpenID helps by setting up a secure interface where all you need to remember is the username/password for your OpenID identity page, and the name of that profile. The profile name is public and this is all you ever need to put into the site you are registering with. No worries about having your common username/password combination leaked to the world. No requirements to wait till you get that confirmation email to verify. Just put in your OpenID profile and you're registered, an example is the OpenID advocacy site I Want My OpenID. You can even restrict what kind of access you want to provide through OpenID and choose between a couple of profiles that you've set up.

Most of our sites are run using Drupal 5 at the moment, Drupal 6 will have OpenID built into core (again Drupal is leading the way to a better Internet). When folks sign up for a new account they just need to enter in their OpenID profile and they are registered. No need to choose a user id, type in your name, etc, on every site you register with. You can also choose to restrict access through OpenID for a single session or to remember that you've given this site access to your profile.

If you haven't already sign up for an OpenID account today. MyOpenID offers them for free as do others, you can even set up your own OpenID if your a keener (or want to set up a program for your department to simplify organizational authorization).