[ic] Re: Recommendation for CA to issue Certs.

[Julia Jacobs]

On 2/20/02 5:33 PM, "Nathan D. Olmscheid" <nathan@namisolutions.com> wrote:

> I know he was talking about a wild card cert. Thats what we use for our
> clients on our servers. It just don't feel it is that expensive. We are a
> hosting company and we have a cert for our server, then each client on that
> server gets a subdomain cert (wild card cert)
> 
> Nathan 
> 
> P.S. I still may be missing something, but it does not seem that expensive
> to me.

If a client is serious about their on-line store they will not want a
subdomain (i.e. eroticdogbiscuits.supermall.com or
superspandexshorts.supermall.com) because they want to look professional and
be taken seriously and want a first level domain.  That being said if they
are serious they won't mind paying the $125 either for a commercial cert so
they can put that cool Thawte logo on the index page.  If they are just
getting there feet wet, want to blow their money in chunks at a time,force
you to listen to them complain that no one is buying their stuff and they
have already spent a whole X number of piddley change while conveniently
ignoring your tales of "I sold my beloved children to a white slavery ship
headed for the flesh pots of Bancock to start my business", they can get a
cheapo subdomain cert.  That's my 2¢, for whatever its worth (which last I
checked on the soapbox exchange rate was about . . .2¢)

If you become an ISP Partner with Thawte like I did (its free) you pay $125
for the first cert. Each $125 cert after that you get for $100 (saving $25).
If you prepay you get more of a discount.  They also have something called
VICE (used to be called Gandalf) which is supposed to be Red Hat compatable
and can put the info forms and scripts you need to generate the Thawte certs
on your server.

My beef with Thawte is less with there pricing scheme as it is with their
really really sloooooooow support.  I got an e-mail telling me my ISP
Partner account was active but when I had a client all ready with her credit
card to perchase a cert, I entered my account code and got an "account not
active error".  It was after office hours so I could not call phone support.
I sent my client home apologizing profusly and used Thawte's crappy Java
based chat support which crashed repeatedly.  The support guy told me to
send my grievance to some e-mail address.  I told him. . . .

Anyway to make a long storey short, two days later I got it straightened
out.  I've sent three e-mails to four people in the last two weeks
requesting VICE for my server and have gotten no response.  I guess I have
to get on the phone and call.

So that's been my experience with Thawte so far.  Sorry for the long run -
on sentences.
-- 
Julia Jacobs
Currant Media
407-977-4523
Fax 407-261-0176
http://www.currantmedia.com
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