root is power
Root is powerful. It is like a full mechanics toolbox, with computer aids for electronic ignition and engine management. You don't use that to drive your car, w2hy would you want it to drive your computer?
If you misuse the engine management tool on a car, you can destroy the engine. If you misues root on a computer, you can destroy the computer.
If a person walks into the garage and messes up the engiine management settings, while that tool is connected to your car, your car is damaged. If a web app accesses your computer via root, it messes up your computer.
That is why you don't want to routinely work as root. Windows was never designed as a real networking OS, but had networking added to a powerful personal OS. As a result, the base mode of work is root, and most applications are written with no protection again, for historical reasons, not ignorance or stupidity, but simply because that is the standard for that OS. Linux follows Unix in the sense that root is for admin stuff, and personal users don't need that level of access.
You don't need to be root on a Linux machine for normal day to day operations. For those specific admin tasks that are routine, the sudo functionality allows only those tasks when setup properly.
It is a good design. But it is a different type of operating environment, and one where separation of power and use is the standard. That is all there is to it. It prevents a user getting hacked via various protections and restrictions built in to a very low level of the OS that has been augmented with new features like SELinux to help prevent even clever attacks against the machine.
Microsoft works at protecting themselves, not their users. That is the reason for all the various changes to filer formats, to their proprietary extensions to normal languages and so forth. Then they package that and sell it to the consumer as an advantage, further protecting their turf, but at the cost of your data and applications being held hostage to a file format and a particular vendor.
If you are happy with that, OK. But if you long for more control, then a change of OS is in your future. Linux is a good choice. The flavor chosen deals with personal tastes in terms of bundled applications, support and other parameters. If you like having a vendor provide support, contract one of the companies that provides a vendor support package like Red Hat. Otherwise, talk to others, join a Linux group and get the common package they use.
Oh, don't buy into the cloud. The cloud is obfuscation for we want to charge you minute by minute to use a computer.
Have fun. New things are coming.
Regards,
Les H
