Pros and Cons of existing electronic signature solutions.
Open/free solutions under GPL license
How does it work?
This is a too big topic to cover. Read more in the link list at the home page.
Pros:
- Free of charge (if you do not use root certificates).
- Projects have been around for a long time.
- Many contributors and users.
Cons:
- It's mainly focused on sending and encrypting email, rather than everyday document management in the companies.
- It's complicated to install and to use for the common user. Multiple signatures with series of approvers and an audit trail are usually not supported.
- Creating and publishing certificates is difficult (Web of trust, CA) and requires users to understand many detailed concepts, as well as configure and install multiple tools.
- It requires online connection to external servers, to ensure validity of the signature.
- It's difficult to investigate and show the "digital hierarchical trust" during an audit. Customized signature with graphical representation is not supported.