With all due respect, sir, you are mistaken. There are people out there that for one reason or another do not want to have their account act up as openid. This should always be an opt-in system, so I think having the users "Activate" their accounts is the best (and only) way to go.

I do agree with you on the second point, using the profile page makes a hell of a lot more sense than a photostream. :)