World domination dream dies

Microsoft has quietly dropped its attempts to make its Passport service a universal sign-on for everything from Hotmail to online banking and shopping - something akin to the gatekeeper of the internet.

The Seattle giant has decided after a number of bruising years that Passport will be be confined to MS outlets only - ie, just a handful of sites compared with its ambitious plans for world domination.

Few enough partners were willing to get into bed with the Beast of Redmond anyway and it didn't help that a few security cock-ups - such as a flaw that potentially exposed the passwords of its 200 million customers - cast a cold light on Microsoft's security arrangements.

This isn't the end for Passport, of course, but there aren't many who'd agree a single sign-on for everything was the way forward anyway.