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Login per Hour (LPH)

4 points by jakupovic ↗ HN
One of the persistent complaints in my computer use, is the number of various logins one has to do, in order to access various resources. For example for me just to start my day I have to: 1. Login to my laptop 2. Login to vpn 3. Login to corporate SSO for a website resource #1 4. Login to SSO for a website resource #2

Then, let's say we step away from the laptop for 15+ minutes, the whole dance has to be repeated. We can argue whether the above is representative or not but, from personal experience seems pretty close to previous.

Now, at a minimum we have to login (L) 1 time per day and if we work 8 hours (h) (no breaks, sorry) we get 4L/8h = 0.5 L/h.

This is not really true, as if it were it wouldn't be a complaint, so what's more likely is that there are 4+ times per day that the above is executed, which gives 2 L/h or once every 30 minutes we are asked to type in our password. Here are some examples for which one may step away from their computer: breakfast, lunch, dinner, bathroom, offsite appt., power or internet issues, ...

The above is an example of just 1 resource, there are other things that make password managers exist and be a must.

Why cannot we have 1 login per day (LPD) or even less, instead of what we have now?

7 comments

[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 28.5 ms ] thread
markus_zhang
I don't know. I get kicked from corporate VPN frequently so it's typical to re-login a couple of times for every day. I also have to figure out how to remove lock screen for MacOS because it's really annoying to do so when WFH.

Other than that I don't have much complain. Once I log in VPN there is no more logins required so I guess my case is easier.

drstewart
Logging in has become a pretty onerous process these days.

I landed on a service used at work recently and legitimately had no recollection of how I was supposed to login: was it 3rd party? (login with Google, Github, etc). Did I have an account directly with the provider? Was it through SSO? I tried all of these and it didn't work.

Oh yeah, it was the one with a shared login stored in our team LastPass vault.

And now I also have a helpful blank account that was auto-created when I tried to login with Google that'll confuse me till the end of days.