Is learning .NET Maui a waste of time?

 I was very excited when .NET Maui was announced. Who, among programmers, would not be excited at the prospect of writing a single application in C# that would run on Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS and Android without any changes. And a free, open source ecosystem to boot.

As soon as it became available I began learning .NET Maui. Learning was a bit frustrating, but generally fun. I downloaded the latest version of Visual Studio, wrote a few toy apps to gain confidence and finally wrote an app that would be useful at work. It worked fine in Visual Studio. Finally the day came when I tried to publish the application to a folder so I could actually install and use it outside Visual studio. It was then the awful truth became apparent.

[cue sounds of tyres screeching and a loud bang]

You cannot publish a .NET Maui application unless you sign the code with a code-signing certificate.

Code signing certificates are not free. The current cost is over AUD $500 per year.
Thats right, with .NET Maui you have to pay $500 per year to run your own software!

Before people start pointing me to the wealth of websites that show how to self-sign a certificate, that is little better than running the app out of Visual Studio. Further it requires others to install my self signed certificate in the trusted folder of their computer before they can run my application. Most corporate users cannot do this, the permission is (rightly) locked out.

So, it seems I wasted my time learning .NET Maui. As a recreational and occasional professional I simply can't justify spending $500 every year to make it useable.

Microsoft are upset at the slow uptake of .NET Maui by the worldwide programming community. I think I may have found the reason.