Microsoft gives up Passport world domination wheeze

THE SOFTWARE colossus whose power reaches the skies and even extends to the bowels of the planet has said that it has shelved its Passport sign up system.

TheVole had great plans for its .NET Passport identification system and had wanted it to become the single sign-on system for the entire interweb.

In 1999, the Redmond, Washington-based company envisioned thousands of online stores and other services using Passport, allowing users to sign on using the same username and password combination used for Microsoft services.

Helas, it was not to be, for there were nay sayers against the plan and their naying saying spread faster than Vole missionaries could get their skates on.

Web site operators balked at the idea of having Microsoft control access to their clients. Regulators in the United States and Europe eventually put restrictions on Microsoft and Passport.

Now it seems that one of the original converts to the glorious plan, Monster.com said that it was dropping the system. The job site was one of Microsoft's banner Passport users.

The Vole had been quietly changing Passport over the last year until it was a shadow of its former self. A directory of sites that support the service was removed this year, and in March 2003, a payments feature was axed.

Now a spokesVole has indicated that the .NET Passport identification system now will be limited to its own online offerings and those of close partners.

"Microsoft no longer sees Passport as a single sign-on system for the Web at large," a spokesperson said. µ