It's all about ME!

[runbux]

Please explain why Linux Mint won't let me globally remove all passwords and permissions, to make it easier for me to use. I'm a big boy, I'm willing to take my chances, BECAUSE I have yet to hopelessly (or even marginally) mess up any OS I have ever used on my personal, SINGLE-USER computer. Messing up my OS is what I used to pay Microsoft to do for me!

I understand that Unix, therefore Linux, is a multi-user OS. It seems that when Mr. Torvalds came up with Linux, he wanted to preserve that. Now that many, many, MANY Linux users are on a single user system, is that still necessary or even desirable? Times change, things change. I just don't have the inclination to spend four hours with the command line trying to copy a file to another directory.

The command line stuff in the hands of an inexperienced user seem riskier than a GUI to me. I have accidently sent some files to hard disk limbo, legitimate commands copied verbatim from legitimate web sites (changing file/directory names as necessary) have resulted in many "not a file or a directory" errors without stating any clear reason, things just don't work, etc. Look, I've read statements like "In linux everything is a file..." -- so why must I be so incredidly specific? Everything is a file, right! Everything? Forgive me, it's aggravating.

I guess what I am asking is, while I am a very satisfied MINT user and plan to use Mint for a long time, what is wrong with letting the user choose the degree of ease of use and resulting risk with which THEY are comfortable? We have distro's optimized for multimedia, commerce, many different languages, and so on. I'd do it myself if I was smarter.

Yes, I read "Linux is not Windows." WHY must things be SO different?

P.S. -- 28 years computer experience going back to the IBM 360, VAX 11-750/VMS, DOS, I was one of the 3 people who bought an Apple LESA! My point is I have experience using computers. I even used the command line , but I forgot ALL of it when it bacame obsolete. I'm a Linux newbie, and too old and lazy to learn new things.

[MALsPa]

I just don't have the inclination to spend four hours with the command line trying to copy a file to another directory.

Wow, I don't either. Fortunately it only takes me a matter of seconds, either from the command line or with a file manager.

[MALsPa]

While I think it's crazy to do so, why don't you just enable the root account and use that?

[vrkalak]

Having passwords, permissions and using the Super-User Mode ... is the main reason that Linux does NOT get viruses and such. It's for you're own good.