gmane.education.web4lib

Sarah Smith | 2 Jul 19:04

Extended Validation and WebTV

We recently upgraded our SSL certificate to VeriSign's Secure Site Pro
with Extended Validation. I've had several calls from WebTV customers
who get an error message along the lines of not being able to establish
an encrypted connection. I called WebTV and the rep didn't even
recognize the name "VeriSign", but suggested powering down, powering up,
clearing cookies, and restarting. Does anyone have additional
information I can pass along to patrons?

Thanks,

Sarah Smith
Systems Supervisor, ssmith@...  
Sacramento Public Library
828 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone (916) 264-2892; Fax (916) 264-2959

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Robert Sullivan | 2 Jul 20:15

Re: Extended Validation and WebTV

> We recently upgraded our SSL certificate to VeriSign's Secure Site Pro
> with Extended Validation. I've had several calls from WebTV customers
> who get an error message along the lines of not being able to establish
> an encrypted connection. I called WebTV and the rep didn't even
> recognize the name "VeriSign", but suggested powering down, powering up,
> clearing cookies, and restarting. Does anyone have additional
> information I can pass along to patrons?

I don't know if this is helpful, but there is a WebTV emulator which
might let you see what they're seeing.  I only use it for site
testing, so I don't know how it will handle your problem.

The old WebTV developer site is gone, but several versions of the
emulator are available at:

<http://media.zefie.com/Apps%20&%20Archives/WebTV%20Viewer/>

--

-- 
Bob Sullivan
Schenectady Digital History Archive
<http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/>
Schenectady County (NY) Public Library

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Sarah Smith | 2 Jul 21:52

RE: Extended Validation and WebTV

>> We recently upgraded our SSL certificate to VeriSign's Secure Site
Pro
>> with Extended Validation. I've had several calls from WebTV customers
>> who get an error message along the lines of not being able to
establish
>> an encrypted connection. I called WebTV and the rep didn't even
>> recognize the name "VeriSign", but suggested powering down, powering
up,
>> clearing cookies, and restarting. Does anyone have additional
>> information I can pass along to patrons?

> I don't know if this is helpful, but there is a WebTV emulator which
> might let you see what they're seeing.  I only use it for site
> testing, so I don't know how it will handle your problem.

> The old WebTV developer site is gone, but several versions of the
> emulator are available at:

> <http://media.zefie.com/Apps%20&%20Archives/WebTV%20Viewer/>

--

-- 
> Bob Sullivan
> Schenectady Digital History Archive
> <http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/>
> Schenectady County (NY) Public Library

The emulators do replicate the issue and seem to verify that at least
the older versions just aren't capable. 

Thank you, Bob!

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Cloutman, David | 2 Jul 20:15

RE: Extended Validation and WebTV

Many WebTV models are no longer supported by Microsoft, are no longer
patched, and may not have modern browsing capabilities. It is not
possible to provide a definitive answer to your question without knowing
what model of WebTV box you are dealing with. It is entirely possible
that the software on the machine is so old as not to be able to handle
more recent developments in SSL technology. Some of the older WebTV sets
may only support up to 128 bit encryption. If you are using a 256 bit
key, that might cause the failure. 

Regardless, you should try to gather the generic technical
specifications of your SSL setup before working with tech support. It is
unreasonable to expect that a technical support person will ever know
the correct technical specs for a particular branded solution. 

Good luck,

- David

---
David Cloutman <dcloutman@...>
Electronic Services Librarian
Marin County Free Library 

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces@...
[mailto:web4lib-bounces@...] On Behalf Of Sarah Smith
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 10:04 AM
To: web4lib@...
Subject: [Web4lib] Extended Validation and WebTV

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Cary Gordon | 3 Jul 01:01

Re: Extended Validation and WebTV

In fact, the current version of MSN TV 2 (a/k/a WebTV) hasn't been  
updated for four years, and it wasn't exactly au courant then.

Cary Gordon
The Cherry Hill Company
http://www.chillco.com

On Jul 2, 2008, at 11:15 AM, Cloutman, David wrote:

> Many WebTV models are no longer supported by Microsoft, are no longer
> patched, and may not have modern browsing capabilities. It is not
> possible to provide a definitive answer to your question without  
> knowing
> what model of WebTV box you are dealing with. It is entirely possible
> that the software on the machine is so old as not to be able to handle
> more recent developments in SSL technology. Some of the older WebTV  
> sets
> may only support up to 128 bit encryption. If you are using a 256 bit
> key, that might cause the failure.
>
> Regardless, you should try to gather the generic technical
> specifications of your SSL setup before working with tech support.  
> It is
> unreasonable to expect that a technical support person will ever know
> the correct technical specs for a particular branded solution.
>
> Good luck,
>
> - David

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