[xoail]

I recently went through this pain for an electron app. Non-EV code sign cert kept throwing SmartScreen warnings for most users. Acquiring an EV cert forced me to register a company and a hefty cert price per year, overall costing nearly $1500. Not to mention overall delay and added costs.

Meanwhile my $100/y Apple Dev subscription was enough to package the app and distribute outside App Store.

At this point I am fairly certain EV certs are nothing but rackets supported by MS.

[mikewhy]

Exact same story here.

Spent an afternoon comparing different (very sketchy yet somehow the best in Windows code sign cert land) sites, finally picked one, signed the app and downloaded it on another machine.

Was immediately greeted with Smart screen, and learned I needed to shell out HUNDREDS more to get rid of it.

What a racket. And something Apple do automatically for you (provided you pay for their developer program).

[mceachen]

Oof. Next time you need to renew, check the links from the msft authenticode dev website for ev certs. A couple providers are much less than $1500/yr.

Also, when I got my renewal bill for something like $1500/yr for PhotoStructure, I sent an email to their support asking to continue the low original fee, and they agreed.

[ensignavenger]

I'm not seeing any requirement to have a registered company? DigiCerts checkout process says to use your own legal name if you don't have a legal business name.