PGPfreeware 8.0: Not so good news for crypto newcomers

[Richard Johnson]

At 19:14 +0000 on 2002-12-08, Pete Chown wrote:
>> "You may have a constitutional right to use crypto software, but someone
>> has to pay the developers. Free Speech is not the same as Free Beer."
>
> Is there really any reason to use PGP these days?


I have a few solid reasons to use PGP over gnupg.

To my dismay, the developers of gnupg chose to embed the command line
processing deep in their software, making doing a proper library-supported
GUI more difficult.  This was the same mistake that made PGP 2 such a bear
to port, etc.  I wish I had the time or skill to fix that, but the reality
is I simply don't have either.

Luckily, PGP 8 actually has a usable GUI, especially from the standpoint of
my non-developer and non-sysadmin friends and customers.  This is the
-most- crucial feature when trying to (successfully) roll out use of email
encryption to an enterprise.  I don't have to develop this feature myself,
which gives me a very solid reason to use PGP.

Also, the PGPsdk is almost always easier to work with than gnupg when it
comes to imbedding OpenPGP into additional products.

On the other hand, gnupg is copylefted open source, vs. PGP's
non-modifiable source release, so if you have more time than money (or
necessity and no money), you can fix the problems with gnupg
portability/usability.


Richard

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