Pat's counterexample can also be significantly pre-dated if you consider that architectures such as Kerberos, RACF Passtickets and others all embody the same principle: a user applies to a trusted third party of some kind for a credential which can be presented to a relying party.

That's not to say Dick hasn't innovated. In my view, one of his most interesting ideas has been to challenge the view that there needs to be an established (explicit, formalised) trust relationship between the IDP and the relying party.

I happen to think that, for transactions of value, there does need to be such a relationship, but it was still valuable to have someone suggest that alternative approaches might be valid, particularly in other contexts.