Every day we use a bevy of identity technologies to prove who we are to various systems, whether we are logging on to a virtual private network or buying from an online store. For users, this means an increasing number of passwords and routines, leading to security fatigue and occasional confusion. For developers, it means working with a hodgepodge of different identity technologies - a situation that doesn't help with maintenance, ongoing security risk analysis, or innovation. Microsoft's proposed answer to this problem is an identity metasystem - a framework that lets varying identity technologies communicate and interoperate using common standards