"People no longer identify themselves by their email addresses, they do so by their social networking account, and he's right there."
That's an argument FOR OpenID, not against it! If every social network has to invent their own sign in protocol, they have two choices: roll their own, or use OpenID. The smart ones will use OpenID. They're welcome to disguise it under a "log in with MySpace" button, but under the hood it makes sense to use the existing protocol with the pre-written libraries rather than invent something new from scratch.
OpenID is not that complex that the technology is important. And seriously, OpenID has already gone the linux way - if a technology is pushed so heavily and utterly fails to make a mark, then LET IT DIE.
OpenID was not intended as a method for sites to perform communicating between themselves, and even if you can use it for that, why not create a protocol that faces the reality of auth methods right now.
That's an argument FOR OpenID, not against it! If every social network has to invent their own sign in protocol, they have two choices: roll their own, or use OpenID. The smart ones will use OpenID. They're welcome to disguise it under a "log in with MySpace" button, but under the hood it makes sense to use the existing protocol with the pre-written libraries rather than invent something new from scratch.