Update: Sam Ruby calculated that this means 63 million new OpenIDs!

John Panzer, who has been one of the drivers behind this effort, announced late last night that AOL is on-line with OpenID. This is instantenously doubling the OpenID user base! (I don't know the exact numbers, but it feels in the right ballpark). He writes:

It's not really a secret that AOL has been experimenting with OpenID. As I've said, I think that user-centric, interoperable identity is hugely important to enable the social experiences we're trying to provide. This is a work in progress, but things are coming along thanks to our authentication team's diligent effort. Here's where we are today:

• Every AOL/AIM user now has at least one OpenID URI, http://openid.aol.com/<sn>.
• This experimental OpenID 1.1 Provider service is available now and we are conducting compatibility tests.
• We're working with OpenID relying parties to resolve compatibility issues.
• Our blogging platform has enabled basic OpenID 1.1 in beta, so every beta blog URI is also a basic OpenID identifier. (No Yadis yet.)
• We don't yet accept OpenID identities within our products as a relying party, but we're actively working on it. That roll-out is likely to be gradual.
• We are tracking the OpenID 2.0 standardization effort and plan to support it after it becomes final.