Re:The Windows installer of ImageMagick will no longer be si...
by mike_hearn on Sunday October 29, 2023 @09:30AM
(#38058445)
Well, firstly, buying certs is optional. You can distribute via the Microsoft Store and they'll sign for you. That's a $19 one time fee, no subscription. It's by far the cheapest way to distribute signed software on Windows. Conveyor can prepare everything and do the upload for you.
So this stuff only applies if you don't want to go via the store.
Now you picked DigiCert and their cloud HSM solution. They're unfortunately quite expensive. SSL.com is a lot cheaper:
So about $100 / yr, with a one off fee to buy a USB key.
And then ImageMagick is open source so they could use the tool for free.
Even commercially, $100/yr plus $45/month isn't particularly expensive compared to the labor cost of developing software commercially. The cost of the tool is like one hour of skilled labor at contracting rates per month. It'll save far more time than that given that as you said, doing deployment by hand is a nightmare.
And as you note, if your app is open source then you can use it for free. So then we're down to using the MS Store + Conveyor for free: $19, one off. Anyone can afford that.
So this stuff only applies if you don't want to go via the store.
Now you picked DigiCert and their cloud HSM solution. They're unfortunately quite expensive. SSL.com is a lot cheaper:
https://www.ssl.com/certificates/code-signing/buy/
So about $100 / yr, with a one off fee to buy a USB key.
And then ImageMagick is open source so they could use the tool for free.
Even commercially, $100/yr plus $45/month isn't particularly expensive compared to the labor cost of developing software commercially. The cost of the tool is like one hour of skilled labor at contracting rates per month. It'll save far more time than that given that as you said, doing deployment by hand is a nightmare.
And as you note, if your app is open source then you can use it for free. So then we're down to using the MS Store + Conveyor for free: $19, one off. Anyone can afford that.