I've set up Arch before and it's not fun to me. I don't want to change and write dozens of config files to get up and running. Some people find that sort of thi

I've set up Arch before and it's not fun to me. I don't want to change and write dozens of config files to get up and running. Some people find that sort of thing fun. I don't. Does that mean I'm conceding some control over my operating system to the developers of the distribution I'm using? Of course. And it's something I willingly do because it's not an interesting problem for me to solve and I frankly don't care that much. If there were something nefarious going on, I might care, but it's simply not possible for me to live my life auditing every bit of software that's running on my system. I suspect most people, even those that are heavily invested in FOSS have some limit to that as well. I doubt that many people are auditing the code for every application or program they compile on their computer. They have a sphere of trust where they can just assume that what they're running is safe enough and that the software isn't going out of its way to be malicious. It's a matter of degrees. I happen to be okay with giving up some control for the convenience of not having to try to install wifi drivers on my computer without access to the internet. I don't think it's self-contradictory at all. People have different ideas of what an Operating System should be and that's reflected in the number of different linux distributions all with their own ideas and philosophies. I just happen to really like what System76 has done.