Remember when Microsoft was going to be your trusted, omnipresent guide through the world of online commerce?
That was the plan a few years ago, when the software giant began pitching its Passport online authentication service as a cure-all for what was ailing online shopping. The company expected to sell Passport services to thousands of online vendors, making your Microsoft-stored password and the extensive personal and financial information behind it all you needed to do business on the Internet.
The reality has turned out to be considerably less expansive. Passport use is limited to Microsoft-owned sites and a handful of close partners, thanks to a combination of customer apathy, high-profile Microsoft glitches and credible competition from the industry-backed Liberty Alliance.