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Definition: Microsoft Passport


An earlier digital wallet system from Microsoft that was developed in 1999. It was designed to be a single sign-on to Passport-enabled websites, but it never caught on. Passport was superseded by CardSpace (also abandoned); however, the single sign-on aspects of Passport were carried over to Windows Live ID (see Microsoft account).

Passport Was Server Based
Usernames, passwords, credit card and billing information were stored on Microsoft servers, enabling users to make purchases without retyping information every time. When users made a purchase on Passport sites (later Windows Live ID sites), the merchant sent a request to the server. Passport superseded the client-based wallet in early versions of Internet Explorer. See single sign-on, digital wallet, identity metasystem and Windows CardSpace.