Controversy Over Symbian Signed
Development August 9th. 2007, 9:36pm My decision of not developing Screenshot for Symbian OS has triggered some reactions. Thanks to the following bloggers for their sympathy (am I missing somebody?):
- The Sad, Sad State of Symbian Signed from Symbian-Guru
- Symbian Freeware Scene Under Serious Crises from Symbian Freak
- Quick Clicks #4 from Symbian in Motion
Thanks also to:
- Steve Litchfield from AllAboutSymbian.com who tried to contact one of the Symbian Vice President.
- Jo Stichbury, the author of Symbian OS Explained and Accredited Symbian Developer Primer, even met me today asking the detail of the problem.
Is there a solution for Symbian Signed for Freeware? Is it possible to do automatic signing for freeware? How can we authenticate freeware developers without any cost? There are many open questions to answer.
I have an idea of automatic signing that may work for open source projects. Basically, Symbian (or other organization that has access to root certificates) creates a system that is able to download the source code directly from SourceForge.net or FreshMeat.net. It compiles the source code in the system automatically. Then it signs the application automatically.
In my opinion, there won’t be crazy developers who publish virus or malicious code to the open source communities. The success of an open source project is based on trust, isn’t it? Will someone abuse the system? It might be, but as far as I know SourceForge.net team always review a project for approval.
One Response to “Controversy Over Symbian Signed”
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September 23rd, 2007 at 4:56 am
We have a product that we were thinking of CDC enabling, I think its going to be a waste of effort and time.
When someone can show me a long list of CDC Symbian signed products, I\’ll change my mind.
I dont buy it, think its a rip-off.
Why have verisign twice, anyone with a serios product will put it on a certified site to begin with, if its a vendor, well they have a brand name to protect, which PC shop is going to stock viruses.
What about a simple warning, this application has not been signed, do you really want to proceed? User says yes because her boyfriend wrote the application, and is in a much better position to judge character than verisign, dont you think.
No, the absolute gate keeping model leads me to believe its an absolute rip-off.
Good-bye Java on the cell phone, solutions are all going to be delivered via browser.
Very very short sighted… I think.