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After writing about my decision of not to develop Screenshot for Symbian OS further, I have received some comments from fellow bloggers or developers. Unfortunately, there is still no help from Symbian.

Recently, someone from Epocware sent an email to me. He said that he can help me signing my application. Wow, that’s good news. So, I sent him my application. Surprisingly, one day later, she sent my application back. It is a signed application! Here is the certificate information that is used by Epocware to sign my application.

Primary:
Issued by Symbian.
Issued to f3c961139a1c755c92afde01f4ef8e9e.
Valid from 10/08/2007 to 09/08/2017.
Issued by VeriSign Testing-Based ACS Root for Symbian OS.
Issued to Symbian Limited.
Valid from 13/10/2003 to 27/08/2023.

Thanks a lot to Epocware. You have saved my life.

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My decision of not developing Screenshot for Symbian OS has triggered some reactions. Thanks to the following bloggers for their sympathy (am I missing somebody?):

• The Sad, Sad State of Symbian Signed from Symbian-Guru
• Symbian Freeware Scene Under Serious Crises from Symbian Freak
• Quick Clicks #4 from Symbian in Motion

Thanks also to:

• Steve Litchfield from AllAboutSymbian.com who tried to contact one of the Symbian Vice President.
• Jo Stichbury, the author of Symbian OS Explained and Accredited Symbian Developer Primer, even met me today asking the detail of the problem.

Is there a solution for Symbian Signed for Freeware? Is it possible to do automatic signing for freeware? How can we authenticate freeware developers without any cost? There are many open questions to answer.

I have an idea of automatic signing that may work for open source projects. Basically, Symbian (or other organization that has access to root certificates) creates a system that is able to download the source code directly from SourceForge.net or FreshMeat.net. It compiles the source code in the system automatically. Then it signs the application automatically.

In my opinion, there won’t be crazy developers who publish virus or malicious code to the open source communities. The success of an open source project is based on trust, isn’t it? Will someone abuse the system? It might be, but as far as I know SourceForge.net team always review a project for approval.

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