Internetionalisering

Presentation av Henrik Evrell: Henrik är Civilingenjör och fd slav på MTG. Numera varumärkeskonsult på Rewir, en yrkesroll han förenklat beskriver som “jag hjälper företag att bli poppis”. Han älskar att jobba med telekom och banker pga utmaningen i deras “jävligt osympatiska affärsmodeller” och kommer använda sin gästbloggarroll till att skaka av sina aggressioner.

Android är lanserad. Jippie?

Webcast (från idag 16.30 CET) här: http://announcement.t-mobileg1.com.

Efter månader av bloggspekulationer och suddiga bildläckor på YouTube droppades idag Android-bomben skarpt. För att ge systemet ett sammanhang samkördes lanseringen med HTC:s G1-telefon, och hostades av T-Mobile som på sedvanligt operatörsvis tog mest plats trots att man bidragit minst till produkten.

Intrycket från den något taffliga dragningen, vars behållning var en 5 minuters Google-Larry/Sergei-visar-ansiktet-moment (geek-porr), är att G1 enkelt taget är en iPhone för folk som absolut inte vill ha en ”iPhone” (troligtvis en enorm målgrupp med tanke på hur PC-marknaden ser ut). Med andra ord – vi har sett upplägget förut, och bättre förpackat såväl estetiskt som kommunikativt. Framförallt kändes telefonen som en orättvis inramning (påminner kusligt mycket om den HTC-”smartphone” jag själv dumpade tidigare i år för att den var… kass) av ett ganska häftigt OS. De apps som användes som illustration av open source-upplägget gav en bra försmak, och även de upphottade Google-features som visades kändes ett snäpp vassare än iPhone-diton. Street level-läget på Google maps var en sån där wow-faktor som Apple annars brukar använda som WOM-knep (typ ”kolla, min laptop ANDAS NÄR DEN SOVER!”).

Svårt att säga annars vad Google har i kikaren med Android. En del i syftet kan vara att sätta ytterligare eld i baken på mobiloperatörerna att erbjuda sina kunder webbaccess, något man fortfarande stretar emot med allt man har pga höga capex-krav. Googles affär bygger i grund och botten på en enkel logik – ju mer timmar världen spenderar på nätet, desto mer tjänar Google – och att driva internet i mobilen, oavsett om det tillgås via Android eller något annat system, är just nu det bästa sättet att åstadkomma en högre användargrad (åtminstone i västvärlden). Det ska även bli intressant att se hur bl.a. Nokia och Microsoft lyckas med motsvarande från sina håll. Mitt bett är dock fortfarande på Apple, som gjort det kloka valet att inte involvera operatörerna för tight i projektet.

Återkommer med fler tankar i den takt de dyker upp.

/ Henrik

Nu är det dags för det fjärde gästbloggsinlägget, skrivet av
“Mr R”.

Historik:
Första inlägg: Gästbloggen - Mr R (del 1).
Andra inlägg: Gästbloggen - Mr R (del 2)
Tredje inlägg: Gästbloggen - Mr R (del 3)

Presentation av Mr R

Mr R är Internetentreprenör och jobbat med strategi och affärsutveckling, just nu i full sving med att starta andra företaget. Intresserad av teknologier på webben som får användarna att hamna i centrum, “det är då de roliga sakerna börjar hända”. Bloginlägg kommer att handla om detta, med risk för att han någon gång kommer att våga sig på att tycka till om annat.

Mr R har ordet

OpenID - Challenges ahead

While potentially proving to be a much vaunted remedy for the multiple password and user name problem, OpenID today faces a number of challenges it must surmount to become a mainstream technology. The benefits of OpenID, i.e. simplifying your online experience, are augmented by the possibility to choose the OpenID provider that fit your needs the most. Additionally, if moving from one provider to the next, your OpenID moves with you, no need to create a new. And of course, OpenID is completely free and non-proprietary.

OK, so moving on to things to improve, I believe the single most important aspect is usability, that is; is it simple and intuitive to use? Sadly the answer is no, even if things are starting to improve the process of logging in with your OpenID on a supported site is not as easy as it should be. The reason for this can not be traced to a single issue, it is a combination of factors, ranging from UI, confusing and time consuming log in procedures and lack of marketing to end users. When it actually takes more time to log in to a site using OpenID than using normal log in credentials there is work to do. The fact that it works across multiple websites gets lost in the mix when each log in becomes frustrating.

The growing list of OpenID providers also mean that they differ in quality, which can heavily impact your OpenID experience. I will go through a number of issues that can vary between providers, largely common to the OpenID standard in general. They represent challenges that have to be overcome for mass-market acceptance and long term success; Security concerns, specifically phishing, is often raised as a downside to OpenID. However, tools to combat password intercepts are there to use for the security minded provider, for example SSL and high grade certificates. So, make sure your provider is up to par in the security realm.

In general, privacy is a problem since your provider will know every site you visit so a trust based relationship is imperative for the system to work. It will be interesting to see if the number of providers continue to grow or if only a handful of large players remain, for example Verisign, who have high credibility in the eyes of end users and web sites accepting OpenID log in. For example, even if I trust my provider, what if the site I want to log into doesn’t? And who checks that I am who I say I am?

Relying on a third party identity provider to log in to various sites adds complexity to the system since it requires that it always must be up and running for you to gain access to your accounts on different websites.

As mentioned in previous posts, in order for OpenID to really take of major sites need to really stand behind it, that is, not only become OpenID providers but also accept identity credentials from other providers on their site, i.e. to become OpenID consumers.

So, all in all, OpenID is today not the optimal solution it can be if properly supported and developed but considering the mess with multiple logins it is in my opinion a worthy cause to pursue. The problems that remain can only be fixed by more users joining in, helping to better the system. OpenID is the only technology that can claim to have reached critical mass or at least critical attention. Will it be victorious? Let’s hope so. Over and out.

Nu är det dags för det tredje gästbloggsinlägget, skrivet av
“Mr R”.

Historik:

Första inlägg: Gästbloggen - Mr R (del 1).
Andra inlägg: Gästbloggen - Mr R (del 2).

Presentation av Mr R

Mr R är Internetentreprenör och jobbat med strategi och affärsutveckling, just nu i full sving med att starta andra företaget. Intresserad av teknologier på webben som får användarna att hamna i centrum, “det är då de roliga sakerna börjar hända”. Bloginlägg kommer att handla om detta, med risk för att han någon gång kommer att våga sig på att tycka till om annat.

Mr R har ordet

One Network – One Identity

Do you belong to more than one social network? I would bet good money that you do. That said I am sure you find it annoying to juggle different user identities while replicating data on different sites. Not to mention the angst of knowing that you are no longer the sole owner of the content you upload, the site can choose to use your data for various purposes without your consent. Getting to grips with these problems might seem like a herculean task and while the implications of doing so are tremendous the tools to make it happen are upon us.

In my first post I stated that with a wide spread identity system on the Internet in place, exciting things can start to happen. In my second post I introduced OpenID as a promising, open and user centric identity framework rapidly gaining traction. If the growth continues OpenID could become the de facto identity layer on the Internet, spawning new applications and services. This is especially true in the area of data portability, i.e. the option to use your personal data between trusted applications and vendors.

See http://dataportability.org for more

Just think about it. What if I used a single identity when online, allowing passage to my favorite destinations on the web? First of, no more forgetting passwords but perhaps more importantly, it opens up for the possibility for taking my data with me from site to site, i.e. data portability, where I as the user own and control my data, not relying on the mercy or goodwill of the site. Instead the data that I want reflected on different sites is associated with my identity, perhaps my OpenID, and thus “tags” along with me as I use the social web in its many incarnations. Here follows a quick example as explained on dataportability:

• I upload my photos to Flickr.
• I log into a photo editing site.
• The editing site asks permission to retrieve my photos from Flickr
• Flickr asks permission to give my photos to the photo editing site
• I say yes
• The photo editing site now shows my photos from Flickr. When I edit and save them, the changes are automatically reflected on my Flickr gallery.
• Neither Flickr nor the photo editing site knew of each other before the transaction and had no relationship other than a common understanding of the DataPortability framework.

OpenID is used in the process above for the different sites to interact on my behalf, using my OpenID as the required identifier.

I have spent considerable time amassing the data and at the core, it is MY data and I alone should be able to decide what to do with it. Today this is virtually impossible since every site behaves like a traditional walled garden entity, the data you have provided are in their eyes no longer your exclusive property that you can move around as you wish. Instead the data is their lifeblood, if it were easy to extract and share with other networks or sites they would loose their most prized competitive advantage, the exclusivity of users and their data. The irony is that some sites even manifest their hesitation towards data portability under the veil of wanting to safeguard user privacy. They don’t feel “comfortable” letting you move around your data to sites of your choosing but naturally they have no compunction of sharing it with their advertisers. If data is set free the barriers of entry for a new destination site would be lowered considerably as it would be a breeze to start using it, the network effects would be built in from the beginning with content directly accesible from users’ other networks.

Ask yourself this; Why should I have to belong to multiple networks when I already belong to the network. I am of course referring to the Internet. Over and out.

/ Mr R

Fortsättning följer.

Nu är det dags för det andra gästbloggsinlägget, skrivet av “Mr R”.

Mr R´s första inlägg hittar du här: Gästbloggen - Mr R (del 1).

Presentation av Mr R

Mr R är Internetentreprenör och jobbat med strategi och affärsutveckling, just nu i full sving med att starta andra företaget. Intresserad av teknologier på webben som får användarna att hamna i centrum, “det är då de roliga sakerna börjar hända”. Bloginlägg kommer att handla om detta, med risk för att han någon gång kommer att våga sig på att tycka till om annat.

Mr R har ordet

OpenID – a promising movement in the identity space

In my last post I alluded to the most hyped initiative in the online identity space. For those of you who already know what I am on about, congratulations, you are ahead of the curve. For the rest of you, chin up, at least you are on the right track by reading this blog. Of course, I am referring to OpenID.

OpenID is an open, free and decentralized user centric identity framework that allows users to log in to various sites on the Internet with a single identity. Yes, that’s right, a “single sign-on” solution with the potential to alleviate the chaotic situation with multiple user names and passwords. The core concept behind OpenID is that users identify themselves much like websites do, with a URL (web address), seeing as URLs are at the centre of Web architecture, they constitute a solid base for a user-centric identity framework.

OpenID is one of several initiatives that aim to create an identity scheme that functions similar to how we identify ourselves in the real world, namely one identity opens many doors. In comparison to already well known online identity systems like Yahoo ID, Microsoft’s Live ID and Google ID, OpenID is decentralized and open (controlled by the end user and not a company) and most of all designed to work on sites not necessarily controlled by the ID issuer. For example, a Google ID would never be accepted on Microsoft sites and vice versa but an OpenID would. In order for one identity framework to be adopted across the web and on the most popular sites and services it can’t be owned and controlled by a single entity. OpenID is therefore the most promising solution to date, and has gained widespread adoption among early adopters, it is now time to reach the early majority.

OpenID is increasingly gaining adoption amongst large sites and blue chip firms, with the likes of AOL, Wikipedia, Digg, the mobile network operator Orange, Yahoo, Google and Microsoft having expressed support for OpenID and begun experimenting with its use on various services they operate. OpenID has support from above 8000 sites and over 160 million users and influential figures like Michael Arrington, famous for the blog Techcrunch, recently wrote:

“It’s definitely time to declare OpenID a winner and the hope for making a single-sign on world a reality”

Sure hope he is right, it’s high time to get an identity framework in place and start to build new, previously unimaginable, services, the opportunities for clever entrepreneurs are bountiful, more about that in future posts. Until then, as I am sure you are interested to find out what the fuss is all about, check out this site to learn all about OpenID (http://openid.net) which includes tips on where to acquire an OpenID, it may even turn out that you already have one, check here to find out, http://openid.net/get/. Can’t get enough, then check out this presentation from one of the prominent figures in the OpenID foundation, Dick Hardt, http://identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/. It rocks, I promise. Over and out.

Fortsättning följer.


Dick Hardt - Identity 2.0.

Nu är det dags för det första gästbloggs-inlägget, skrivet av “Mr R”. Mycket nöje!

Presentation av Mr R

Mr R är Internetentreprenör och jobbat med strategi och affärsutveckling, just nu i full sving med att starta andra företaget. Intresserad av teknologier på webben som får användarna att hamna i centrum, “det är då de roliga sakerna börjar hända”. Bloginlägg kommer att handla om detta, med risk för att han någon gång kommer att våga sig på att tycka till om annat.

Mr R har ordet:

The fragmentation of I,
Are you as fed up with multiple passwords and user names as I am? I mean, come on, a new set of identity credentials for each site, email account and Internet service I use. Are you kidding me? Surely I am not the only one feeling like some psycho with 17 different personalities to juggle? Of course not, it’s a wide spread problem that has had the unfortunate consequence of users resorting to reuse the same set of password and user name on multiple accounts. Can you spell disaster? Criminal elements on the Internet have already taken advantage of this understandable yet stupid and happy-go-lucky practice. Successfully hacking one site with questionable security infrastructure means other accounts are vulnerable, it’s the domino effect once again rearing its ugly head and the following news headline has sadly become all too familiar – “Site X hacked, millions of user accounts exposed”. It’s really not an even sided struggle; individuals with malicious intent are way ahead of the unsuspecting Internet populace who, like innocent lambs, are slaughtered due to careless service providers unable to keep intruders at bay. It is like the farmer trying to protect his heard of sheep spread over thousands of acres from a pack of hungry wolves, simply with the aid of a rickety fence. In other words, a loosing proposition from start to end.

No, something is definitely rotten in the kingdom of the Internet and it’s high time somebody took command of the situation. Brilliant coders out there; mount up and restore our confidence in Internet security, preferably with a solution that doesn’t require a Masters in cryptography to use. I want something easy to use, reusable across the web and as secure as the keys to the nuclear arsenal. And I want it yesterday. I know what you are thinking; “What’s next on the wish list, world peace?” Ok, so maybe I will settle for something easy to use, reusable on major sites, better security than we have today (something is after all better than nothing) and a system that I can start to use today with potential to grow quickly.

For the love of god, how hard can it be? If we can pry our eyes from the screen and our digital life we need not look further than the “real world” and how we identify ourselves there. Drivers license, ID card, passport; identity credentials which prove who you are and are accepted practically everywhere. While not free from problems they are reasonably safe. Why don’t we have something similar in the digital world? It sure would make my life easier. I am here to say that all is not doom and gloom, there is a groundswell of innovation in the identity space, it’s early days yet and more brilliant people need to direct their attention to it both from a technical and a business perspective. We are slowly but surely edging closer to adding a much needed identity layer to the Internet. I will talk about the most promising initiative in my next post and thereafter continue to rant about the implications of a wide spread adoption of an Internet identity system for us end users. It’s earth-shattering stuff so stay tuned folks. Over and out.

/ Mr R

Fortsättning följer.