what use claimid?
So, now that I've had a brief bit of serial enthusiasm in discovering this whole microID / claimID thing, all it's ended up with in practical terms is a list of links in my sidebar. So, with that and fully understanding that it's early days yet for claimID, I have to ask myself: What does this do that I couldn't have done with a tagged set of del.icio.us bookmarks? Of course, bookmarks on del.icio.us don't enjoy any sort of microID verification, but that could change - either through features implemented there directly or through a sidecar service. My original gripe was about both machines and people finding out about me from a central source. So far claimID seems to be good for just people finding out about me.
By the way, this is not criticism or a put-down of claimID - this is me thinking out loud and puzzling it out.
Update: Although, I certainly understand the utility of microID in replacing blog posts like this one.
Archived Comments
These are really quite valid questions, and stuff as important as identity does deserve our puzzling. ClaimID is a model - just as blogs enabled millions of people to share their voice online, claimID lets people have a way to approach their identity. Simple? Yes - but that's the point. There are tons of people out there who have stuff about them online (mailing list archives, blog comments) who don't have the time, desire or expertiese to create a myname.com site, or even a html list of links about themselves. ClaimID is designed so that these people can have a dead simple solution for a fundamental need.
Of course, on top of that you do get value adds...the personal SEO stuff is nice, having your links tied together for search engines are nice, the microformats stuff, link status checking, having an OpenID, and so on - but the main experience is the simplicity. For as important as identity is, most people really still aren't going out of their way to protect/defend their names. Maybe this will change in the future, maybe it won't - but we are betting that the way to get people in the door, to start them thinking about the process is through simplicity.
Honestly, though, we're still figuring all of this out. Identity is huge, complicated, loaded with meaning and interpretation - and we aren't going to say that we've got all the answers. But reading posts, responding, listening - we really feel like we're learning a lot. Our goal down the road is for ClaimID to be a place where you can simply an easily have your identity needs met. That said, we're still working on it, and thanks for being part of the process!
Best, Fred