An Australian software company has entered into the authentication-systems battle between Sun and Microsoft, claiming to have released the world's first Java-interface to Microsoft.NET My Services. But is this a legitimate contender, or, as some suggest, a pretender?
Australian-owned BuyItOnline has developed and released JPassport, a Java-based version of Microsoft's much-publicised product, Passport, which allows an e-commerce Web sites access to Microsoft's single sign-on system for user data and authentication.
The product has been released in conjunction with software giant Microsoft's Australian and international offices, as a means of Passport-enabling Java-run sites, according to Jeff Ayling, BuyItOnline's technical director.
"We really wanted to Passport-enable our site, but Microsoft didn't provide a way of enabling the site with Passport if you were running on Java -- they only provide a Windows solution -- so we created JPassport," said Ayling. "With the help of Microsoft Australia, and overseas, we have managed to completely replicate their Passport project in Java, so we cover every function that's available."
ed in conjunction with software giant Microsoft's Australian and international offices, as a means of Passport-enabling Java-run sites, according to Jeff Ayling, BuyItOnline's technical director.
"We really wanted to Passport-enable our site, but Microsoft didn't provide a way of enabling the site with Passport if you were running on Java -- they only provide a Windows solution -- so we created JPassport," said Ayling. "With the help of Microsoft Australia, and overseas, we have managed to completely replicate their Passport project in Java, so we cover every function that's available."
However, according to Southern Storm Software director, Rhys Weatherly, JPassport is "not an implementation of all of Passport, it is only the client request side".
"I suspect that any half-decent Java programmer could write the same thing as JPassport from scratch in about a week if Microsoft were to document how the protocols work," said Weatherly.
Weatherly has been involved in a Microsoft.NET-related project for more than a year, writing code for a Portable.NET project as part of GNU/Linux's version of .NET.
Although Weatherly did not dispute claims that JPassport is the first of its kind, he highlighted the work that is being done on single sign-on authentication systems worldwide.
"They [BuyItOnline] may be correct [in claiming] this is the first product in the world of its kind. But this is perhaps because almost everyone else is trying to replicate the whole of Passport, not just the client side, for example Liberty Alliance," said Weatherly, referring to the Liberty Alliance Project, spawned by Sun Microsystems in 2001.
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