Distinguishing between the Identity Metasystem and InfoCard

Johannes Ernst asks, What might an "Identity Meta-System" be? He begins,

Microsoft InfoCard is frequently described as an "Identity Meta-System" (as opposed to, say, Microsoft Passport, which is/was a plain identity system and not a meta-system). This term seems to have beek picked up widely, but like some others (e.g. Doc Searls), the longer I think about it, the more I realize that I have a number of open questions about it ...

His questions involve interoperability and development choices; but, more fundamentally, about Infocard as an identity metasystem.

First we need to stop confusing the Identity Metasystem with Infocard. They are not the same. InfoCard is one implementatio that works with the Identity Metasystem described both at that last link and by Kim Cameron.

The Metasystem is a "backplane" into which any and all other identity systems can "plug". One of those systems is Microsoft's InfoCard. As the Vision for an identity metasystem white paper says, "Microsoft is implementing the following software components for participation in the metasystem"... and names four items, including two bearing the "InfoCard" label.

I think the confusion comes in the first sentence of the following paragraph:

Non-Microsoft applications will have the same ability to use "InfoCard" to manage their identities as Microsoft applications will. Non-Windows operating systems will be able to be full participants of the identity metasystem we are building in cooperation with the industry. Others can build an entire end-to-end implementation of the metasystem without any Microsoft software, payments to Microsoft, or usage of any Microsoft online identity service.

Bottom lines:

1. InfoCard is not the same as the identity metasystem.
2. InfoCard is not required to build out a the identity metasystem as a Net-wide framework for identity system interoperability.
3. No Microsoft software is required to make the Identity Metasystem happen.

Of course, InfoCard will help drive the market, as well as conversations about it. If Microsoft weren't the one coming forward with the Identity Metasystem, it's unlikely that we'd be talking about it.

If it succeeds, InfoCard will be a leading identity system, and an exemplar of the identity metasystem at work -- but only if other identity systems also plug into the metasystem backplane.

All that said, I think Johannes and others bring up good questions about the willingness of other identity systems to plug into the Identity Metasystem.

What will it require?

At the very least it will require a clear understanding of the differences between the Identity Metasystem and the implementations that work with it, including the most high-profile ones from Microsoft.