A blog reader asked if it was possible to get a cheaper digital certificate for a smaller dev shop. I looked into this and unfortunately, there is no special discount for individual software production houses. The real issue when talking certificates is the level of trust a certificate carries. For instance, if you develop some code and then sign it with a cert that is issued from a group that is cheaper and more questionable, then your cert is worth far less because it doesn’t have the same credibility.
In the internal corp environment, you can get a cert from my own company cert server and know that internally, it’s trustworthy. If you take that same application and ship it externally, no one would trust it simply because they can’t guarantee the authenticity of the publisher. This extra cost for the certificate goes to verifying identities and contributes to the higher cost from the reputable folks. For what it’s worth, you only have to get one digital cert for your company and use it multiple times for your company applications. I’m not giving tax advice or anything, but if you check with your tax advisor, you might be able to write it off, too.
By the way, I’m out of the office for a few days for family festivities during the Lunar New Year. If you’ve sent me mail in the last day, I won’t be getting back to you until next week some time. Happy New Year, everyone! (Year of the Rooster starts on Wednesday)
-- Mai-lan