Access control's future?
There are three uses for Linux: desktop, embedded, and server.
This set of changes disenfranchises the last two groups, and the desktop group is relegated to becoming hapless drones with no clue and no recourse.
The root password was a simple and elegant mechanism, and Admin simply shot any person who wrote it down. Servers should return to this option, perhaps with physical electronic contact dongles replacing logins. As pointed out by the OP, FreeBSD is becoming the only non-physical login option remaining that preserves the secrecy method of system control.
Embedded systems have no need of a system-level user concept. We should embrace the logic-cell-level modifiability of an FPGA and embed per-board-level changes for access configuration for whatever device-to-device communication mechanisms are required.
So, what of the Desktop users? The changes discussed in this article suggest that only by completely preventing access to the startup code, scripts and data can we secure any given machine and it's data, so are we truly heading towards a world where nothing is left but Chromebook-like pretty terminals?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
