Comment by graemep

Linux has containers for this - firejail, flatpack and others have support for this.

Older software tended to be less obnoxious about it. I have never had a desktop app refuse to run for this sort of reason.

Desktop software installers do not claim to offer this security. Mobile OSes claim to be sandboxed so your expectations are different.

The sorts of applications you install are different too. Many mobile apps are things you would do using a web browser on a desktop. They should therefore be locked down the way webapps are.