Comment by v_lisivka

While I understand your mindset of, "If you are not experienced, you should not use root, because it's dangerous. Your experience confirms that. When you need to use root, plan for disaster." for a network-based terminal at a workplace or public facility, I disagree for a home user's computer. When we error-proof a computer against an average user, we lose the ability to silently teach that user what NOT to do. We lose the ability to empower that user to control their own machine. If you type in "format ." or something like it, then yes, you should expect a great deal of trouble; especially if you didn't have good backups. That's a big part of my problem with Windows 10, Linux, OSX, Chrome, Firefox 52+, and basically most "modern" software. By demanding that the OS, the browser and even videogames must be able to be updated at random by the whim of some "upstream" group, and the user doesn't actually have the authority to decide what is or is not on their machine, or what data is or is not being sent to wherever, we lower the standard of the average user.

I'm not talking about accessibility, mind you. I'm talking about the silent education that takes the starting computer user and makes them into someone who is confident around computers in general. Someone who understands the appropriate niche for each type of computer (i.e. in roughly ascending order of generality; mobile cellular device, tablet/iPad, Chromebook/netbook, laptop, desktop, server), and recognizes both the minimum and maximum range they need. For example, I certainly can read ebooks on my laptop using Calibre. But the fact that iBooks can benefit from the built-in screen reader makes things so much smoother than trying to find an audiobook; and I can read along with it or turn off the audio if I want. I can use a Chromebook/netbook to connect to HDMI displays and make presentations smoothly, but if I want to use a Smartboard or a projector, I probably need a laptop for VGA support - and the fact that my current laser presenter uses PgUp & PgDn to switch slides (Chromebooks don't have those keys and Google Docs doesn't seem to support them from the Chromebook). The list goes on.

As you said, learn from your mistakes, it's the price for performance. But what many groups are trying to do is take away the capacity to make those mistakes.

rm -rf / is a completely software operation. It should completely wipe your system. It should not render your hardware inoperable. I don't expect or want it to wipe my BIOS or GPU firmware or NIC firmware or any other hardware component that happens to be attached at that time that has an EEPROM or otherwise reprogrammable microcontroller. That's insane.