> You should not do that since there is no reason to disallow the user from doing what they want. For desktop computing ("personal computing", if you like), an

> You should not do that since there is no reason to disallow the user from doing what they want. For desktop computing ("personal computing", if you like), anyone here will agree. But the article is specifically talking about securing appliances, and generally when talking about appliances, you're talking about rackable machines sold to the enterprise. There, they don't care a jot about being able to muck around with the machine - the whole point of an appliance is that you plug it in and go; that is more or less manages itself. And for many of these customers, and of course any operating in a high-security environment (e.g. defence), this level of security is a feature, not a hindrance.