Replying to moving away from the keychain system... I am considering Espionage, I like it but still have a few small issues I'm trying to make some choices on before I sign on (nothing related to the app, more related to my workflow and how I integrate Espionage's methods of handling things). I read this, and it worries me - I completely understand the reasoning for moving away from the keychain as a default, but I hope you still provide the option (1Password, for example, offers this). While I choose to use 1Password's method in the case of that app, I see glaring problems with having multiple apps using multiple methods of handling "keychain" type situations, which is why Apple designed the Keychain system. Obviously having multiple possible routes which can each have their own bugs and loopholes is worse than having one. Not that keychain is without fault, and not that I don't think Tao Effect can't do a great job in handling this, but it's just the nature of the beast -- every application is bound to have bugs, security issues, etcetera, Keychain as well -- having multiple possibilities for infiltration, regardless of the quality of the implementation, is worse than one. Besides, it's an inconvenience to have apps all going their own way with regard to handling secure items, regardless of whether it is risky or not.
I wish there were more options (for example, open ones) with a good base to make up for Keychain's faults while also providing a standard so developers don't have to each come up with their own method of doing things without (significant) sacrifices of their goals. Alas, as with tagging / xattr (look at openmeta), I really wish Apple would do a better job at tying up loose ends instead of letting the developers do the legwork (and then putting them out of business by bringing their changes into the os x fold often without even a thanks). Cocoa being around for years and we just now saw Finder, the included file management app that is probably the most used application on every mac, being updated. And just the backend. I know, snow leopard was big and certainly welcome, but in spite of the great price it's still a fix for stuff that should have been 'fixed' when it was shipped (or incrementally over the years. Features are great but neglecting the old stuff until it's so late you have to sell a huge package of fixes is frustrating). I've gone completely off topic and am ranting. Apologies.
I wish there were more options (for example, open ones) with a good base to make up for Keychain's faults while also providing a standard so developers don't have to each come up with their own method of doing things without (significant) sacrifices of their goals. Alas, as with tagging / xattr (look at openmeta), I really wish Apple would do a better job at tying up loose ends instead of letting the developers do the legwork (and then putting them out of business by bringing their changes into the os x fold often without even a thanks). Cocoa being around for years and we just now saw Finder, the included file management app that is probably the most used application on every mac, being updated. And just the backend. I know, snow leopard was big and certainly welcome, but in spite of the great price it's still a fix for stuff that should have been 'fixed' when it was shipped (or incrementally over the years. Features are great but neglecting the old stuff until it's so late you have to sell a huge package of fixes is frustrating). I've gone completely off topic and am ranting. Apologies.