Brand awareness

Jeff questions Nico's assertion that it is a given that OpenID needs a visible brand.

Jeff would have the particular OP brand front and center on any UI, with OpenID itself de-emphasized. Nico would do the opposite, i.e. deemphasize the individual OP in favour of the protocol.

Some random thoughts

1) If you believe that there needs to be a brand above that of the particular OPs, is 'OpenID' the best choice for that brand? 'Interac' is a valuable brand, but it's not named after the protocols that enable it.

2) If the protocol brand is hilited when the protocol is OpenID, what of federated operations when the protocol is not OpenID, i.e. SAML? How confusing will it be for users to sometimes see a protocol brand, and sometimes not?

3) why spend time arguing when some usability tests would verify whether users find federated operations more or less intuitive with the various (OP first, OpenID first, hybrid, neither) branding options?