Most phone users are oblivious to what root even is and yet still hate it when changes are pushed to their devices without notice, with no ability to revert to how things were or prevent unwanted changes in the future. This isn't acceptance but rather learned helplessness.

Most users click on every single download link and install shit they shouldn't touch.

The simple problem has always been that when you're selling someone a $1000 piece of hardware that's supposed to "just work" how much do you let their ignorance fuck it all up.

Now granted that's not an argument for locking away access from those who choose to accept the responsibility, as has always been the case, but the idea that there was any other outcome was absurd.

Yes it'd be nice if everyone had some tech savvy common sense, but even now when we have generations growing up with it, actual understanding is far and few between when looking at the general population. People don't care, and don't want to, and it can make things risky.

Well people are technological illiterates for the most part, but the mobile platforms are dumbed down to such a degree that it would be impossible for people to learn even if they grew up with it. It's a vicious cycle, you have to design these mobile platforms for infants because that's the only way you can keep them safe, but they will never learn anything about computer or network technology using something designed to infantilize them.

The thing is, it's not that I particularly care about people, but it's made Android/iOS incredibly irritating to use, I avoid it as much as I can. It's not just that it wants to protect me from myself, as much as it doesn't let me do what I want to do, it feels like computing with a straightjacket on. Build a fort knox of sandboxes and SELinux, that's fantastic, as long as you give me the keys and blueprints, and for christ sake, stop pretending that my phone isn't a computer.