The end of OpenID?

Yes, if the programmers are busy writing informative articles and going to nearly-washed-out conferences.

> Maybe one reason for low adoption is the difficulty of getting started.

No. For example, OAuth is far more complicated, yet implemented more widely.

> I would personally like to see more of OpenID.

Expecting sites to implement OpenID is a bit of wishful thinking. A succinct way of summarizing the article would be: "The value proposition of OpenID is to the USER, not to the implementor."

In order to be adopted, the next protocol will need to benefit both the user and the implementor. (I think something like OpenID, but with the ability to sign up to a site RSS feed at the same time.)