It should be noted to all of you coming from O'Reilly's radar. That OpenID (the latest version) does accept i-names and identityprovider URL's (this is the Sxip way of identity provision).

One of the reasons that i-names are cool is that they have persistence in a way that URLs have some challenges with in the long run. The names can be transfered to a new person but the i-number underneath is not. If you have domain name you are using as your identifier and you don't renew it. The new owner of the URL can use it to sign-in to places you have had accounts.

i-names also have a nicer syntax and hopefully work for the internet users who may never get they can use URL's to login.