Subscribers who own a Monster.com account have been informed they can now only log in using their username, or e-mail address, and password instead of Passport.
A letter sent to account holders from a Monster.com representative said they would no longer be able to sign-in via Passport from October 22.
Monster.com’s decision is major loss for Microsoft’s .NET program. Passport is widely used by Microsoft to provide access to millions of Hotmail accounts and other online services from partners.
In December 2001, Microsoft proudly announced the service was an early adopter of .NET, saying Monster.com would provide access to its services via Passport whilst also using construction tools and services under the, then, new .NET system.
Along with Passport, Monster.com signed up to Visual Studio.NET and .NET Alerts, to update customers of relevant job openings. Passport meant customers already signed into Monster.com could access other online accounts, if they, too, supported Passport.
A spokesperson for Monster.com yesterday told ComputerWire that Passport represented a low percentage of users and that Monster.com had decided to prioritize IT resources. The decision was made in order to make the most effective use of resources within the Monster architecture, the spokesperson said.
Microsoft said in a statement: While MSN used to have an affiliated relationship with Monster for our MSN Careers Channel, we now work with Careerbuilder.com in this space, so the change is not a surprise.
