Newsmaker: Ending Microsoft's identity crisis

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Microsoft has said that InfoCard will be available for XP machines through IE7. How do XP users get access to the necessary code.
Cameron: In XP it comes in on WinFX.

So it's a client-side software download?
Cameron: Yes. Our hope is that will be really easy.

So, I can have my InfoCards on my work machine and on my home machine and they could be the same. Does that expose it to security risks? If you are able to transfer InfoCards then people can steal it?
Cameron: No, because the InfoCard doesn't actually contain the identity information.

What it is is a visualization and a way of contacting the identity provider. You can't go and steal the InfoCard. I mean if you did, it wouldn't give you anything.

What, if any, personal data lives on other people's servers?
Cameron: Let's take the case of a credit card company. Because I go to the credit card provider each time I want to use one, it can give me a one-time credit card number. It actually never has to release my real credit card number.

Obviously InfoCard comes with Vista, but what do you think is a realistic time frame for when this will be usable?
Cameron: I think people will be people offering InfoCard-enabled services by the time Vista ships. I'm at a disadvantage because I can't tell you who we are working with. What I can say is there are thought leaders around this in each industry. Those are the guys who we will be working with and who will have these applications that are InfoCard ready.

You can get not just identity but sort of very interesting semi-anonymous things that are very privacy-friendly. One of the things we have been doing with this project is to work with the privacy advocates and have them as colleagues in the design of the thing. This is not one of those things where a bunch of nerds get in to a garage and come up with something that is going to gross out the privacy advocates.

When do you anticipate talking about some of the partners?
Cameron: It will be as we get closer to (the launch date for) Vista.

News.com's Joris Evers contributed to this report.  

More Newsmakers

[Earl Benser]

What did he say??????

A whole lot of words, but nothing that would suggest that the
InfoCard has any better security than a password. It seems that
if someone got ahold of my InfoCard or one of my InfoCards, or
Whatever, no one on the other end would it wasn't me.

I think that MS is going to have to do a monumentally better
selling job that this poor interview does.

ABout the only thing I read that held water was MS admitting
that Passport was a damn fool idea. Good intentions and no
follow though.

[NWLB]

I think, maybe, he could have been saying...

Well it sounds like Passport II. Microsoft has been getting into the habit of renaming failed ideas and trying them again.

It seems like a bad joke. Some kind of attempt to get back control they feel they have lost. To use this thing they are talking about, I would have to trust Microsoft, believe they have created a generally bug-free and secure service or program. Then I'd have to believe they won't turn around and use my adopting it, to force me to use it their way, or spend money to keep it. Since I can't do or believe any of that, I'll take a big pass on the idea.

The more they trot out these talking heads to babble about things which even they don't understand, the less credible the entire company appears.

[scdecade]

Slow down JA

Wait just a minute here. Slooooow down. First, and before anything else, Microsoft needs to make a stable, secure operating system. Stable? C+ (too many reboots for trivial tasks) Secure? F- (horrible, just horridly horrible). Now would I buy or use a new security product from this company? No freakin' way. They need to get Windows secure first.

[Deborah Mitchell]

Thanks, but no thanks...

I don't think the public wants this sort of technology. Not from
Microsoft, not from Google, not from anyone.

[Zeus, Son of Cronus]

Talking?!?

Fear me mortals

[abualsamid]

what does that mean??

i have no idea what Infocard is, and after reading the article i did not gain a grain of knowledge as to what it is...
if this is how they are going to end their identity crisis then i better start shorting the stock...

interviewer needs a lesson in journalism.

[mozart11]

Info-cards. What info. No infor from Microsoft speak.

Has anybody understood one thing Microsoft has said for the
last year or more? Gates, Balmer and this guy. They all speak
some language that says absolutely nothing. They talk like
they're in tune with innovation and produce NOTHING. I truly
belive this company is so rudderless. Getting beat left and right.
Google, Amazon and Apple.

Info-cards? Another item they "explain" by saying nothing. Who
would tgrust their info based on this article?

[OneWithTech]

Wheres the security in InforCards

I just finished the interview and was wondering if Microsoft
could actually answer the real question being asked here. How is
the InforCard security differ from that of say -- server
certificates that allow authentication?

As my InfoCard deck builds and E-Com sites come and go how
can I ensure that InfoCard will remain a secure alternative?

Will InfoCard be subject to phishing and web site spoofing?

I ask these questions as a web developer / designer, computer
repair man, marketeer and media guru; with an interest on how
you, Microsoft, plan on accomplishing a feat like this when the
very operating system and browser that will be powering this
feature is severely FLAWED!

It is a proven fact that you can't build a stable software package
against an unstable software base. So how does Microsoft plan
on alleviating this problem?

As a person that writes copy and has some marketing
background I could answer all of those questions posted in this
article without ever seeing InfoCard! Why don't you release some
viable, valid, information on the workings of InfoCard?

Where is the Information that we as users and media can use to
ensure that InforCard will do as stated in the article. Because
frankly we as a Tech society have heard and seen so much
******** from Microsoft over the years -- how is this any
different?

These are only some of the questions. The rest of them we'll
have to answer at www.TechViewsToday.US in time!
~Justin

[OneWithTech]

Wheres the security in InfoCards

I just finished the interview and was wondering if Microsoft
could actually answer the real question being asked here. How is
the InforCard security differ from that of say -- server
certificates that allow authentication?

As my InfoCard deck builds and E-Com sites come and go how
can I ensure that InfoCard will remain a secure alternative?

Will InfoCard be subject to phishing and web site spoofing?

I ask these questions as a web developer / designer, computer
repair man, marketeer and media guru; with an interest on how
you, Microsoft, plan on accomplishing a feat like this when the
very operating system and browser that will be powering this
feature is severely FLAWED!

It is a proven fact that you can't build a stable software package
against an unstable software base. So how does Microsoft plan
on alleviating this problem?

As a person that writes copy and has some marketing
background I could answer all of those questions posted in this
article without ever seeing InfoCard! Why don't you release some
viable, valid, information on the workings of InfoCard?

Where is the Information that we as users and media can use to
ensure that InforCard will do as stated in the article. Because
frankly we as a Tech society have heard and seen so much
******** from Microsoft over the years -- how is this any
different?

These are only some of the questions. The rest of them we'll
have to answer at www.TechViewsToday.US in time!
~Justin