Amended 13/5/2007
Intuitively - and this is not a good basis for deciding on such matters - I am a fan of i-names, which I wrote about in December 2004. I use an i-name as the "Contact me" link on this web log - it works well - and you can register your own here.) A small but increasing number of sites that require you to log in now enable you to do this with your i-name (or with any other "OpenID-enabled identity" - if that is the right phrase). All very convenient, you might think, since for any such site you only need to know one user name and password. But there is a catch. Someone can steal (i.e. "phish" for) OpenID user names and passwords by setting up a bogus web site to which naïve (or tricked) users log in with their OpenID enabled identities. The commoner OpenID-enabled sites become, the more value will attach to the theft of users' details. This issue is interestingly discussed on the OpenID web site itself. (With thanks to Victor Grey of 2idi for telling me about this resource.)
13/5/2007. Via Stephen Downes here is a link to a 7/5/2007 news release from Sun announcing its interest in, and support for, OpenID, which it currently sees as "limited to facilitating low-risk transactions such as blog comments", including its plans to explore "what changes and practices are needed to make OpenID applicable to a broader spectrum of business and IT challenges".
Defunct links corrected 5/1/2009
Comments