After a long day yesterday playing telephone tennis with VeriSign / Geotrust. I found another signing provider that can sign Microsoft Windows Mobile Code. (So They Say).
£399 later. It doesn't. I seems the only provider that can sign code for Window Mobile is Verisign / Geotrust.
FYI. Same company.
My comment is.
1. No-body else does it. (Seems many company's have been court by this)
2. Come on Microsoft. What the hell is going on. 1 Provider for code signing and $5 to sign the code each time is punishment. Doesn't fit into a nightly build process and no wonder people are moving to IPhone and Android.
> After a long day yesterday playing telephone tennis with VeriSign / > Geotrust. > I found another signing provider that can sign Microsoft Windows Mobile > Code. > (So They Say).
... <skipped> ...
> 2. Come on Microsoft. What the hell is going on. 1 Provider for code > signing > and $5 to sign the code each time is > punishment. Doesn't fit into a nightly build process and no wonder people > are moving to IPhone and Android.
I have been developer for PocketPC since version 2.0 (windowsce). and year ago, I have started developing for IPhone but now almost put in in 'idle' state, after developed some community App on IPhone, below is some comments.
If your think develop for Windows Mobile is hard, and IPhone is easy, let see...
To develop for IPhone, and publish / distribute it , there is no less headache.
1. Register to Apple, and if your application is going to distribute to IPhone, you must apply from Apple and Paid at least 100 (for free program like community services) and if you are collecting fee from your program, your have to paid much more fee (and the lengthly approval time). Also, you subscription (certificate) is going to last for about 2 years only.
2. You can only use certain MAC machine as development platfirom. totally unsupported on PC. ie, you cannot use PC as development machine (the SDK, XCode and Objective-C is MAC only .dmg) So, you need some spend $$$ to buy new machine for it.
Come on Apple, didnt you know that more than 90% of the Computer on the market is PC ?
3. To deploy to IPhone, you must be registered and get the development certificate, which then your development tools (XCode) able to deploy to IPhone. But before that, you need to register your IPhone serial code to Apple Portal, generate a key, download the key, and then only that particular IPhone is recognized by XCode (development tools), but not to other IPhone with different ID, unless you put it on Apple Store.
4. Every OS upgrade, you need to re download the whole SDK, for example, if your existing SDK only up to OS2.2 but you need to develop for 3.1, you need to redownload the new SDK, which is 2.4GB !!! there is no small 'patch', platform SDK download like WindowsCE (PocketPC SDK, WM5 SDK, etc, which is only at most few ten MB, the Embedded tools, seldom need to upgrade) Note that there is no progressing download, individual patch, any upgrade - your need to redownload the GB SDK.
Come on Apple, cant you just provide a small 'patch' or that particular SDK update instead of everytime OS upgrade, need to re-download the HUGE SDK ? At least for most country, how many provide such a reliable and fast connection ? (also the time, halfway connetion drop have to restart again).
5. Not tired enough for yet another language, another framework ? To your suprise, it is yet another language, Objective-C, solely used by MAC.and 'Cocoa' framework.
> "Gary Crean" <GaryCr...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:F0AC4D7A-F2F4-4CD4-B324-85C8C806E3D8@microsoft.com... >> After a long day yesterday playing telephone tennis with VeriSign / >> Geotrust. >> I found another signing provider that can sign Microsoft Windows Mobile >> Code. >> (So They Say).
> ... > <skipped> > ... >> 2. Come on Microsoft. What the hell is going on. 1 Provider for code >> signing >> and $5 to sign the code each time is >> punishment. Doesn't fit into a nightly build process and no wonder people >> are moving to IPhone and Android.
> I have been developer for PocketPC since version 2.0 (windowsce). and year > ago, I have started developing for IPhone but now almost put in in 'idle' > state, after developed some community App on IPhone, below is some > comments.
> If your think develop for Windows Mobile is hard, and IPhone is easy, let > see...
> To develop for IPhone, and publish / distribute it , there is no less > headache.
> 1. Register to Apple, and if your application is going to distribute to > IPhone, you must apply from Apple and Paid at least 100 (for free program > like community services) and if you are collecting fee from your program, > your have to paid much more fee (and the lengthly approval time). Also, > you subscription (certificate) is going to last for about 2 years only.
> 2. You can only use certain MAC machine as development platfirom. totally > unsupported on PC. > ie, you cannot use PC as development machine (the SDK, XCode and > Objective-C is MAC only .dmg) > So, you need some spend $$$ to buy new machine for it.
> Come on Apple, didnt you know that more than 90% of the Computer on the > market is PC ?
> 3. To deploy to IPhone, you must be registered and get the development > certificate, which then your development tools (XCode) able to deploy to > IPhone. But before that, you need to register your IPhone serial code to > Apple Portal, generate a key, download the key, and then only that > particular IPhone is recognized by XCode (development tools), but not to > other IPhone with different ID, unless you put it on Apple Store.
> 4. Every OS upgrade, you need to re download the whole SDK, for example, > if your existing SDK only up to OS2.2 but you need to develop for 3.1, you > need to redownload the new SDK, which is 2.4GB !!! there is no small > 'patch', platform SDK download like WindowsCE (PocketPC SDK, WM5 SDK, etc, > which is only at most few ten MB, the Embedded tools, seldom need to > upgrade) > Note that there is no progressing download, individual patch, any > upgrade - your need to redownload the GB SDK.
Some more, 1 - you need to upgrade the MAC OS also, just to support the new SDK.... 2 - you need to download the SDK also if you do not publish on Apple store, your SDK up to 2.2, but to deploy to 3.x OS phone, , even your plan to deploy our program in OS2.2 binaries.
There is no .msi, .cab or setup.exe equivalent, jail-breaking (hacked code) might be answer, but carefull cause every OS update, all your thing in IPhone is washed unless you use the telco / unlocked IPhone.
> Come on Apple, cant you just provide a small 'patch' or that particular > SDK update instead of everytime OS upgrade, need to re-download the HUGE > SDK ? At least for most country, how many provide such a reliable and fast > connection ? (also the time, halfway connetion drop have to restart > again).
> 5. Not tired enough for yet another language, another framework ? To your > suprise, it is yet another language, Objective-C, solely used by MAC.and > 'Cocoa' framework.
Anonymous wrote: > 5. Not tired enough for yet another language, another framework ? To > your suprise, it is yet another language, Objective-C, solely used by > MAC.and 'Cocoa' framework.
Wow; I used Objective-C as the 1st object-oriented language I had come across well over a decade (perhaps two) ago. It was (then) nothing to do with Apple or phones, of course. Was unimpressed with the level of support but a lot must have happened since then!
Mike. -- If reply address is invalid, remove spurious "@" and substitute "plus" where needed.
You shouldn't be signing every build so $5 for each nightly build should never be an option. You only need to sign builds that you release. You can build, debug and test without signing or you can use the development certificates - you just need to configure your test device by deploying the development certificates package (there is a cab file in the Windows Mobile SDK) and you can use the Device Security Manager (Tools menu in Visual Studio 2008) to set the security mode on the connected device. You can either turn off security completely or have it operate in One-Tier or Two-tier with your code signed with either the privileged or unprivileged development certificate.
Peter
-- Peter Foot Microsoft Device Application Development MVP peterfoot.net | appamundi.com | inthehand.com APPA Mundi Ltd - software solutions for a mobile world In The Hand Ltd - .NET Components for Mobility
"Gary Crean" <GaryCr...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> After a long day yesterday playing telephone tennis with VeriSign / > Geotrust. > I found another signing provider that can sign Microsoft Windows Mobile > Code. > (So They Say).
> £399 later. It doesn't. I seems the only provider that can sign code for > Window Mobile is Verisign / Geotrust.
> FYI. Same company.
> My comment is.
> 1. No-body else does it. (Seems many company's have been court by this)
> 2. Come on Microsoft. What the hell is going on. 1 Provider for code > signing > and $5 to sign the code each time is > punishment. Doesn't fit into a nightly build process and no wonder people > are moving to IPhone and Android.
Their customer service stinks (particularly if anything goes wrong when enrolling with them), but for $299 USD a year you can sign as many files as you want *IF* you are running XP.
If you're running Vista or, errrm, 7, then you are stuck with Microsoft's ridiculous money-making pay-per-signing Bill-Gates-retirement fund.
We developer PocketPC/Desktop applications in XP, sign them in XP, and then test & deploy them to Vista/7 environments.
"Gary Crean" wrote: > After a long day yesterday playing telephone tennis with VeriSign / Geotrust. > I found another signing provider that can sign Microsoft Windows Mobile Code. > (So They Say).
> £399 later. It doesn't. I seems the only provider that can sign code for > Window Mobile is Verisign / Geotrust.
> FYI. Same company.
> My comment is.
> 1. No-body else does it. (Seems many company's have been court by this)
> 2. Come on Microsoft. What the hell is going on. 1 Provider for code signing > and $5 to sign the code each time is > punishment. Doesn't fit into a nightly build process and no wonder people > are moving to IPhone and Android.
> After a long day yesterday playing telephone tennis with VeriSign / > Geotrust. > I found another signing provider that can sign Microsoft Windows Mobile > Code. > (So They Say).
VeriSign have been the sole providers of Mobile2Market code signing accounts for a number of years.
It's important to differentiate between generic Authenticode signing certificates (where there are numerious providers), and the ones accepted by Windows Mobile devices out of the box. If talking to another provider ask them explictly if they support Mobile2Market (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsmobile/dd569931.aspx), as that may clarify what they think your asking for.
> 2. Come on Microsoft. What the hell is going on. 1 Provider for code > signing > and $5 to sign the code each time is punishment.
I equally have always wondered (for unpriviledged certificates atleast) why Windows Mobile certificates are "accounts" with fixed numbers of signing events, vs desktop Authenticode certificates which are timeframe based and can be signed locally.
It has however improved over the years. I still remember a time when a code signing "event" was considered a individual dll, exe or cab file rather than one "event" per CAB, no matter how many executable files it contains (http://blogs.msdn.com/hegenderfer/archive/2007/05/19/mobile2market-up...). That truely did start adding up quickly if your application was rather modularised, not to mention a pain in the neck, especially when there was no tooling support.
It may not fit your required use case, but have you considered the Windows Marketplace for Mobile as an alternative? It has an alternative set of fees and constraints etc, but may suit some applications better than Mobile2Market these days.
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