> 80% of PGP's value ... you can get with three command lines: While I completely agree that those commands are all that is needed most of the time, it's this

> 80% of PGP's value ... you can get with three command lines: While I completely agree that those commands are all that is needed most of the time, it's this part that unfortunately makes pgp/gpg so unpopular: > command lines Even on HN I find people that hate the command line (even though they use it). The problem is the complete lack of front ends wrappers around those commands in every other email tool. The enigmail plugin for thunderbird is surprisingly nice. It even does a decent job at key management (including the web of trust), but it made the "80% of PGP's value" completely transparent. If you have the key for an address, emails are automagically piped through gpg, and it handles decryption for you similarly (with pgp-agent support for less passphrase typing). Of course, that was only useful for the handful of us that used thunderbird; with Mozilla dropping the project, it's questionable if this has a useful future. Almost all of the complexity with pgp/gpg can be hidden behind a nice GUI and opportunistic[1] enabling of the crypto. Unfortunately development has been focused on walled gardens and tying people to artificial dependencies[2] instead of writing useful client-installed software. [1] Fallback to plaintext that people use currently is necessary until a critical mass of keys have been shared. [2] why write a client app when you can make it hard for people to switch to other services by tying them to your domain name? /sigh/