&gt; I don&#x27;t know about you but I want my sysadmin to work for me so that when I tell it to shut up and get out of my way, it does exactly that.<p>I <i>do</i> actually disagree there! And this is perhaps the fundamental disagreement we have. I want my sysadmin to be a capital-E Engineer and choose their ethics over my desires. Don&#x27;t let me (the capitalist) tweak the bridge I&#x27;m paying for into one that falls down; and similarly, don&#x27;t let me tweak the computer I&#x27;m paying for into one that gets malware, joins a botnet and DDoSes people.<p>You pay your Engineers, basically, to provide you the service of &quot;knowing what&#x27;s best for you&quot;; to be your domain-specific nanny, making sure you don&#x27;t do something you&#x27;ll regret out of ignorance.