Certified OpenPGP-encryption after release of Thunderbird 78

[Patrick Brunschwig]

Robert J. Hansen wrote on 30.05.2020 01:26:
>> 1. Will key management and crypto happen in the same process as
>> IMAP/POP/SMTP, GUI, JavaScript and everything else? If so - do you
>> believe it's acceptable?
> 
> It should be an easy learning curve for Enigmail users.  That isn't the
> same as finding it acceptable, though.
> 
> Back in the mid-'90s PGP came out with a GUI for PGP 5, and it's
> universally agreed at user interface was horrific.  (See "Why Johnny
> Can't Encrypt" for a detailed teardown.)  The problem was that this
> horrific user interface became the standard user interface, and most
> OpenPGP key managers ever since have adopted it.  Those that haven't
> adopted it, nobody uses, because their UI is so different than
> everything else.
> 
>> 2. Is there any real plan to have working smartcard support in the
>> near future?
> 
> No.  There's some talk about supporting it, but as far as I know there's
> no plan to do it.  It's still at the "you know, it'd be kind of nice
> if..." stage, not the "we really should do this" stage.

The plan is to support smartcards (by using GnuPG for private key
operations). This is already working partially, and is foreseen to be
available in TB 78.

-Patrick