> Having root access is not in the interest OR benefit of most regular users.

What about desktop OSes for the last 40/50 years?

Sure they aren’t the foam-padded locked down phone OSes, but isn’t this fear a case of leaving said padded room?

Computer usage and consequently threat landscape went through a crazy change from 40/50 years ago. Desktops are a minority of devices. If you take personal devices even more so. Most people in the world with a computer have just a pocket one. Especially in WANA countries discussed

If you talk to regular non IT savvy people many of them don't bother and correctly assume that at some point it will "get a virus" or something. And it is fine for them because almost no one uses desktop for critical stuff like payment or finance. But majority do use phones for that. They jumped from cash straight to phones and now it's a lucrative attack vector.

Edit to reply because throttled by downvotes: yea I'm in your boat, we live in a bubble. It's hard to believe. But now I'm using a payment system that literally has "get app" on its site and no other way to manage money or even sign up. And apps like that can be the only way for many people to get some sort of plastic card to pay cashless

And I see how it happened. Many people have no personal desktop computers. Many payment vendors don't trust desktop computers because an ordinary person's windows machine is a malware breeder.

So many people in the world depend on mobile security (especially underprivileged people). Anyone who wants them all to get fucked for own libertarian ideal of "hardware ownership" is basically a psychopath to me. Especially considering that he is literally free to root his device and not make it a problem for others.

▲

mumbisChungo a day ago | parent | next [-]

>almost no one uses desktop for critical stuff like payment or finance.

I'm not saying this is wrong (in fact I assume it is accurate), but relative to my life experience this is crazy to me.

▲

tokioyoyo a day ago | parent [-]

Worked on some financial stuff before, and dashboards showed the opposite of your experience, if I’ll be honest. An average user is very different from us.

	▲	devilbunny a day ago \| parent [-]
		Financially savvy people are much more likely to have a desktop, I would think. Mu mother-in-law does not have a laptop or desktop. She barely uses her iPad. If it’s not on the phone, it might as well not exist. My father-in-law has a PC at work and a Mac laptop, but he uses them only for work - his casual internet use is entirely on the phone. My wife uses multiple iPads and her phone, but only uses a desktop at work or when working at home. Most people I know don’t actually own personal computers other than their phone or tablet.

▲

jjav a day ago | parent | prev [-]

> almost no one uses desktop for critical stuff like payment or finance

What? This makes no sense. For something where security matters, using the desktop is the only rational choice. I never, ever, allow any sensitive information through the phone since it is not a trusted device.

	▲	devilbunny a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		And yet it is the truth.
	▲	throwaway290 a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		You are just another example why most people ranting on HN about the topic of rooting phones are out of touch. No offense.