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OpenID, which describes itself as "an open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity", has been gaining momentum and getting press in the Identity 2.0 space. The fundamental idea of OpenID is that a URI is necessarily unique and thus a good way to identify users. If you say you own a URI and can properly authenticate with the URI, then you must be who you say you are. Admittedly, this can be tricky to understand at first. Perhaps the best analogy is an open version of Passport, where you can download and run your own Passport server. When you go to Microsoft.com or MSDN, you don't log in to a "local" account - you are instead redirected to a Passport (now Windows Live ID) screen to enter your username and password. From a user perspective, OpenID is not that different as Simon Willison showed in this his screencast (embedded below). Scott Hanselman also discussed OpenID on a recent Hanselminutes and has a number of good resources (including the screencast) linked...
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