According to this post on the Windows Live Dev Team blog, starting today, Windows Live ID is publicly committing to support the OpenID digital identity framework - GREAT! OpenID, in case you don’t know, is a decentralized framework for authenticating users across the web. For sites that support OpenID, users can choose to log in with their OpenID instead of having to create yet another account and then have to remember a username and password. With OpenID, instead, there’s only one thing to remember: your OpenID.
To get an OpenID, there are already a ton of mainstream channels you can use. For example, if you have an account at one of the following services, you already have an OpenID:
AOL - openid.aol.com/screenname
Blogger - username.blogger.com
Bloglines - d.bloglines.com/username
Flickr - www.flickr.com/photos/username
LiveDoor - profile.livedoor.com/username
LiveJournal - username.livejournal.com
Vox - member.vox.com
Yahoo - http://openid.yahoo.com
WordPress.com - username.wordpress.com
There are many others, too, and even if you don’t have an account at any of those services, there are a ton of places where you can sign up to get an OpenID of your own.
Now that Windows Live is supporting OpenID, you will soon be able to use your Windows Live ID as your OpenID!
Those interested in testing the new Windows Live ID Integration environment can do so here: https://login.live-int.com/beta/ManageOpenID.srf where you can set up your OpenID alias on a test account. However, it’s recommended that this is used for test purposes only. Users are encouraged to wait to set up their Live ID OpenIDs until the service goes into production.