How Many Passwords Are Too Many?

In all honesty I have no answer to that question.  However, I'm was really disturbed and thoroughly annoyed today to find out that a particular "fantastic" initiative that would improve customer service 100% was not followed through upon because it would require users and staff to remember another password.

Seriously?!?  How many times and for how long can this be an excuse to follow through with innovation?  There are numerous ways that single sign on or Open ID can be implemented.  If it something very personal then I would indeed want a fancy alpha-numeric password.  Like many I would assume that if it was a complicated password I would most likely record it into a secure location.  There are also a ridiculous number of applications for doing this for every device imaginable.  Oh and don't forget the handy note pad beside the phone.  How many people have all their passwords written down there.

In an ever growing world of applications (and I use that term very very loosely - cars even have passwords sometimes) with usernames and passwords how can we ever decide and assume that there is a MAGIC limit to the number we need our customers and/or staff to have.

I'm open and curious to any and all thoughts that you might have on this.

Trouble remembering all those "strong" passwords

I came across this handy little Password Chart today. It's a decoder for strong passwords into simple ones. Actually it is kind of the opposite of that.

You enter into a field on the site a phrase or word and a matrix of random letters (Caps and lower case) and numbers appears. You can then use these the matrix to code out your simple password.

If I use the phrase "I can never remember my password" then I get this matrix:

I can then use the chart to take a simple password and convert it to a strong password.

Example: "password" gets converted to "gvaGwtJJimmgSFysb"

I don't even have to use the matrix to match up letters to the new code (p = gva); there is a field on the same page for me to enter in my simple password to convert it to the strong password.

The site can then be accessed where ever I go or I can print out the page and carry the matrix with me. What could be "JNqmgvaREicYcgSF" than that?