No joke. Yes, I am joining Microsoft. For those with questions, I hope to have answered them below:

Q: You’re joining the Borg! Have you sold out?

A: Well, I don’t think I have sold out. I was recruited to Microsoft because I am an independant thinker. I have worked with open source and internet technologies for 15 years — and at ActiveState, bridged the gap between them and Microsoft. There are many people I respect in the identity space that are working at Microsoft, and that are doing “the right thing”.  I will be joining my foo camp friends Jon Udell,  Dana Boyd and of course Ray Ozzie.

Q: But you are an enterpreneur, why go to a big company?

A: I’m am very much an entrepreneur and am pretty risk oblivious — the financial security of a job is not a driver for me, even in the current financial environment — in fact the lower beta and reduction in potential upside is a negative factor. I have been an entrepreneur for a long time. Been there, done that. Lots a failures. A few successes.  I view the opportunity to come in at a senior level and learn how big enterprise and big software works a great learning experience. I’m also excited about changes that are afoot at Microsoft such as Azure and to work beside a bunch of really smart people!

Q: What will you be doing?

A: I will have the title Partner Architect and will be working on consumer, enterprise and government identity problems. My open source, open web and digital community experience will continue to guide my thinking. For me, this is an opportunity to work on the identity problems I have been toiling over for the last six years, but now with massive resources.

Q: But, hey, don’t you use a Mac?

A: Yes. And I will continue to use a Mac as long as I am more productive on that platform. (Hint to Windows 7 team — make me more productive!)

Q: Is Microsoft buying Sxipper / Sxip Identity?

A: No. Microsoft is hiring Dick Hardt.

Q: What’s happening to Sxipper?

A: I will continue on as Chair of Sxipper, Inc. We have a small, dedicated team that will continue to advance the technology and start to find revenue sources so that it can be self sufficient in 2009.

Q: What happened to Sxip Identity?

A: A year ago we were in the midst of numerous discussions for the company to be acquired. Unfortunately those did not transpire and we sold off the Sxip Access product line to Ping and some new SSO technology to TriCipher. A few of our investors were unhappy we did not have a successful exit, and launched a lawsuit which crippled the company. The Sxipper product was sold to Sxipper, Inc. where it has thrived, and Sxip Identity is being wound up.

Q: What will happen to the Identity 2.0 blog?

A: I will continue to blog here, and hope I will be able write more often!

Q: Will you be moving to Redmond?

A: Yes. And yes, my fiance will be joining me. If you are interested in the more personal aspects of the move, check out my Blame Canada post.

Jon Udell recently interviewed me about the BC Government Identity Management project. Podcast provides some thoughts on that, and then we wonder into general discussion on user-centric identity.

Yesterday a spec was released that solves one of the internet identity problems: how do you let an app access your account at a web service without giving it your username and password. Yahoo, AOL, Flickr and Google all had a slightly different approach to solving this problem, which created additional overhead for developers. OAuth has a site here, and Eran Hammer-Lahav wrote a good background piece here. Could the spec be better? Sure. Does it get the job done? Definately.

What is interesting about this specification is how it was developed. A number of people were at Mashup Camp and decided to work together to solve the problem. A post was made on one of the OpenID lists which raised awareness amongst the identirati and a core group of participants got to work.

Leah Culver from Pownce and Blaine Cook from Twitter did not want to reinvent a solution, and being high profile web 2.0 sites, were able to drive a conclusion to discussion by insisting they needed a spec real-soon-now or they would need to come up with their own. The consummate Web 2.0 rainmaker Chris Messina greased the wheels while Eran of Hueniverse stepped up and did a ton of work editing and consensus building. George Fletcher from AOL was tracking the spec, and there was surprising participation from Google heavy weights John Panzer and Ben Laurie. There were lots of other people involved of course, and the core group was somewhat closed about letting other people in, but at the end of the day a spec was agreed to in only a few months. This is how the internet was built in the old days. It is great to see the tradition continuing today.