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0 pointsgruez7y ago0 comments

>I kind of see them like taxi medallions

Taxi medallions are pricey because there's limited supply and high demand. Code signing certificates have limited demand and unlimited supply, but are expensive because they require manual verification (like EV certificates) and has a bunch of startup costs (to get included as a root).

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tomc19857y ago

Factors keep both items expensive, and both are effectively required for doing certain types of business.

cwyers7y ago

Medallions are an artificial constraint on supply -- the point of them is to shrink the market. Code signing provides a benefit -- it's a way for a user to ensure they have the right installer and that it wasn't changed by a nefarious third party.

tomc19857y ago

And are code-signing certs really so different? The reporting and regulatory requirements behind them make me think that they are an intentional barrier-to-entry for newcomers, amateurs, and startups, and the business student in me admires their moat-like quality. Code-signing certs lock a lot of people out of certain channels of software distribution

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0 pointsgruez7y ago0 comments

>I kind of see them like taxi medallions

0 comments

tomc19857y ago

Factors keep both items expensive, and both are effectively required for doing certain types of business.

cwyers7y ago

tomc19857y ago

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